Downlink control channel design and signaling for beamformed systems

ABSTRACT

Transmit and/or receive beamforming may be applied to the control channel transmission/reception, e.g., in mmW access link system design. Techniques to identify candidate control channel beams and/or their location in the subframe structure may provide for efficient WTRU operation. A framework for beam formed control channel design may support varying capabilities of mBs and/or WTRUs, and/or may support time and/or spatial domain multiplexing of control channel beams. For a multi-beam system, modifications to reference signal design may discover, identify, measure, and/or decode a control channel beam. Techniques may mitigate inter-beam interference. WTRU monitoring may consider beam search space, perhaps in addition to time and/or frequency search space. Enhancements to downlink control channel may support scheduling narrow data beams. Scheduling techniques may achieve high resource utilization, e.g., perhaps when large bandwidths are available and/or WTRUs may be spatially distributed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/253,599, filed on Nov. 10, 2015, the entire contentsof which being incorporated by reference as if fully set-forth herein,for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Small Cell mmW eNB (SCmB) deployment may be based on the 3GPP R12 smallcell deployment. The mmW operation may be performed by one or morenetwork nodes. A Small Cell mmW eNB (SCmB) may be an LTE small cell eNBcapable of operating an mmW air interface, perhaps with an LTE airinterface in the downlink.

An mmW WTRU (mWTRU) may be capable of operating in LTE and mmW airinterface. The mWTRU may have one or more sets of antennas and/or theacccompanied Radio Frequency (RF) chains, perhaps one operating in theLTE band and/or in the mmW frequency band.

SUMMARY

Initial mmW access link system design may focus on cellular systemprocedures that enable add-on mmW data transmission (e.g., at leastdownlink transmission) to an existing network such as a small cell LTEnetwork. Transmit and/or receive beamforming may be applied to thecontrol channel transmission/reception, e.g., to overcome high path lossat >6 Ghz frequencies. Techniques to identify candidate control channelbeams and/or their location in the subframe structure may provide forefficient WTRU operation. A framework for beam formed control channeldesign may support varying capabilities of mBs and/or WTRUs, and/or maysupport time and/or spatial domain multiplexing of control channelbeams. Modifications to reference signal design may discover, identify,measure, and/or decode one or more, or each, control channel beam, forexample for a multi-beam system, among other scenarios. Techniques maymitigate inter-beam interference. WTRU monitoring may consider beamsearch space in addition to time and/or frequency search space.Techniques to downlink control channel may support scheduling narrowdata beams. Scheduling mechanisms may achieve (e.g., high) resourceutilization, e.g., perhaps when large bandwidths may be available and/orWTRUs may be spatially distributed.

For example, one or more beam specific control channels may be utilized.The beam specific control channels may utilize a fixed mapping in aframe structure. For example, a beam specific control channel may bemapped to a fixed symbol and/or a fixed subframe in the frame structure.For example, a flexible mapping may be used for the beam specificcontrol channels within the frame structure.

For example, a WTRU-specific and/or beam-specific search space may beused for transmitting and/or receiving control channels. TheWTRU-specific and/or beam-specific search space may be associated withserving control channel(s) assignments. The WTRU-specific and/orbeam-specific search space may be utilized in a WTRU monitoringprocedure. For example, the WTRU may be configured to determine a beamspecific search space size (e.g., in terms of subframe and symbollocation). A WTRU may be configured to determine a WTRU-specific searchspace within a beam and/or beam-specific search space.

A WTRU and/or based station may be configured to perform methods forresource allocation for sub-subframe scheduling. For example,sub-subframe scheduling may allow multiple allocations in a givensubframe. For example, sub-subframe scheduling may be performed suchthat multiplexing (e.g., TDM) WTRUs with different downlink beams withina given subframe may be utilized.

A WTRU may be configured to identify the downlink data beam that an mBmay use for the WTRU. For example, the WTRU may be configured to switchthe receive beam used for downlink data based on one or more parameters.For example, the WTRU may be configured to switch the receive beam usedfor downlink data based on resource allocation information. For example,the WTRU may be configured to switch the receive beam used for downlinkdata independently from the received resource allocation information.For example, beam combining may be used for the DL and/or UL.

A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) may be configured for wirelesscommunication. The WTRU may comprise a memory. The WTRU may comprise aprocessor. The processor configured with at least one or more searchspaces. The one or more search spaces may be configured to provide forat least one of: a monitor of one or more Downlink (DL) controlchannels, and/or a receipt of the one or more DL control channels. Atleast one search space of the one or more search spaces may correspondto at least one reference signal of one or more reference signals. Theprocessor may be configured at least to monitor at least a part of acontrol region for at least one reference signal of the one or morereference signals. The processor may be configured to detect the atleast one reference signal in the at least part of the control region.The processor may be configured to monitor the at least one search spacecorresponding to the at least one reference signal for at least one DLcontrol channel upon the detection of the at least one reference signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an example of mmW Small Cell Deployment.

FIG. 2 is an example of Comparison of Frequency and Spatial Filtering.

FIG. 3 is an example of an OFDM Frame Structure.

FIG. 4 is an example of an mmW Downlink Logical, Transport and PhysicalChannel.

FIG. 5 is an example of an mWTRU Fully Digitized Beamforming.

FIG. 6 is an example of an mWTRU Analogue Beamforming with at least onePAA and at least one RF Chain.

FIG. 7 is an example of an mWTRU Analog Beamforming with at least onePAA and at least two RF Chains.

FIG. 8 is an example of an mWTRU Analog Beamforming with at least twoPAAs and at least two RF Chains.

FIG. 9 is an example of an mWTRU Analogue Beamforming with at least twoPAAs and at least one RF Chain.

FIG. 10 is an example of an Illustrative 2D and Realistic 3D Narrow BeamPattern.

FIG. 11 is an example of a Realistic 3D Broadside Broad Beam Pattern.

FIG. 12 is an example of Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Type1a.

FIG. 13 is an example of PDCCH Type 1b.

FIG. 14 is an example of PDCCH Type 2.

FIG. 15 is an example of PDCCH Type 3a.

FIG. 16 is an example of PDCCH Type 3b.

FIG. 17 is an example of a Logical Architecture for Control Channel BeamGeneration.

FIG. 18 is an example of a Subframe Structure and Placement for ControlBRS.

FIG. 19 is an example of Resource Allocation in Two Dimension ofFrequency and Time.

FIG. 20 is an example of a Subframe Structure and Placement for ControlBRS for Parallel Beam Sweeping.

FIG. 21 is an example of Resource Allocation in Two Dimension ofFrequency and Time.

FIG. 22 is an example of Common Control Channel Beam and Search Space.

FIG. 23 is an example of WTRU Beam Specific Search Space.

FIG. 24A is a System Diagram of an example Communications System.

FIG. 24B is a System Diagram of an example Wireless Transmit/ReceiveUnit (WTRU) that May be Used within the Communications SystemIllustrated in FIG. 24A.

FIG. 24C is a System Diagram of an example Radio Access Network and anExample Core Network that may be Used within the Communications SystemIllustrated in FIG. 24A.

FIG. 24D is a System Diagram of another example Radio Access Network andan Example Core Network that may be Used within the CommunicationsSystem Illustrated in FIG. 24A.

FIG. 24E is a System Diagram of another example Radio Access Network andan Example Core Network that may be Used within the CommunicationsSystem Illustrated in FIG. 24A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of illustrative embodiments will now be describedwith reference to the various figures. Although this descriptionprovides a detailed example of possible implementations, it should benoted that the details are intended to be examples and in no way limitthe scope of the application.

An mmW deployment may be used, e.g., based on a 3GPP R12 small celldeployment perhaps with an extension of a LTE carrier aggregationscheme. An example is a Small Cell mmW eNB (SCmB) deployment. The SCmBmay be based on the 3GPP R12 small cell deployment. The mmW operationmay be performed by one or more of the following network nodes. A LTEsmall cell eNB may be capable of operating an mmW air interface, forexample in parallel with a LTE air interface in the downlink. The SCmBmay simultaneously transmit LTE downlink channels in a wide beam patternand/or mmW channels in narrow beam pattern(s), e.g., when it is equippedwith advanced antenna configuration and/or beamforming technique(s). TheSCmB may support features and/or procedures in a LTE uplink (UL)operation, e.g., to support mmW wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs)without mmW uplink transmission. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU)that is capable of operating an mmW air interface, possibly in parallelwith a non-mmW LTE system, may be referred to as an mmW wirelesstransmit/receive unit (mWTRU) and/or an mmW user equipment (mUE). AmWTRU and/or a mUE may be used interchangeably herein. A WTRU may beused herein to refer to an mWTRU.

For example, an mWTRU may comprise antennas (e.g., two or more sets)and/or accompanied RF chains, some operating in a LTE band and/or somefor operation in an mmW frequency band. The antennas and/or accompaniedRF chains may perform independent baseband processing functions,although portions of the antennas and/or RF chains may share somehardware and/or functional blocks. For example, the baseband functionsmay share certain hardware blocks, e.g., when the mmW air interfacebears similarity with the LTE system.

For example, mmW channels may be used as an extension of a LTE carrieraggregation scheme. One or more mmW channels may be a carrier type inthe mmW frequency band. One or more mmW channels may apply a differentair interface and/or legacy LTE. The one or more mmW channels may be ofopportunistic use for high-throughput and/or low-latency traffic dataapplication(s).

LTE channels may carry control signaling, e.g., system informationupdate, paging, Radio Resource Control (RRC) and/or Non-Access Stratum(NAS) signaling (signaling radio bearers), and/or multicast traffic maybe carried. LTE channels may be used to carry mmW Layer 1 (L1) controlsignaling.

The SCmB and/or mWTRU may employ narrow beamforming, e.g., in non-lineof sight (NLOS) at mmW frequency band, perhaps for example due torelatively high propagation loss associated with mmW band. Employingnarrow beamforming may provide for a (e.g., sufficient) link budget forhigh-throughput and/or low-latency data transmission.

Transmitting and/or receiving narrow beam pairing may be used. Forexample, at least a consistent coverage with a cell-radius of up to 200meters may be achieved at 28 GHz and/or 38 GHz in urban areas by using asteerable 10°-beamwidth and/or a 24.5-dBi horn antenna for transmittingand/or receiving.

To meet the high data rate required for the next generation of cellularcommunication systems, the wireless industry and/or academia have beenexploring ways to leverage the large bandwidths available at above-6 GHzfrequencies, e.g. at cmW and/or mmW frequencies. The large bandwidthavailable at these frequencies may provide capacity improvement foruser-specific data transmission. One challenge of using these above-6GHz frequencies may be characteristics related to their propagationwhich may be unfavorable for wireless communication, especially in anoutdoor environment. For example, higher frequency transmissions mayexperience higher free space path loss. Rainfall and/or atmosphericgasses, e.g., oxygen, may add further attenuation and/or foliage maycause attenuation and/or depolarization. Narrow beam patterns which maybe used to counter these losses may pose challenges for a base station(e.g., eNB), for example, in delivering cell-specific and/or broadcastinformation.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a SCmB deployment. SCmB may use narrowbeams for downlink transmissions. One or more mWTRUs may usereceive-side narrow beams for receiving the downlink transmissions. SCmBand/or mWTRUs may apply broad beam pattern for the traditional LTEoperation including cell search, random access, and/or cellselection/reselection etc.

FIG. 2 is an example of the mWTRU receive beamforming, for example,using narrow spatial filtering. FIG. 2 includes an example comparisonwith a frequency domain filtering to demonstrate the effect of a spatialand/or angular filtering.

The spatial filtering may allow an mWTRU to detect a channel impulseresponse at a distinct angular direction captured by the narrow receivebeam, perhaps for example similar to a frequency filtering removingunwanted frequency components. This may result in a flat effectivechannel by excluding angular incoming paths outside of its beamwidth. AnR12 LTE WTRU may be assumed to have an omni-directional receive beampattern and/or may perceive a superimposed channel impulse response overthe entire angular domain. An aligned mmW transmit and receive beam pairmay provide a degree of freedom in the angular domain compared with thecurrent LTE system.

An mmW system (e.g., a downlink system) design may focus on integratingdirectivity, e.g., the directivity of a narrow transmit and/or receivebeam pair, into a cellular system which may include L1 controlsignaling, data scheduling, narrow beam pairing, beam measurement,and/or L1 control information feedback, etc.

Some examples of mmW system parameters and/or assumptions are describedherein. The parameters and/or assumptions may change, for example,depending on the type of deployment. These parameters and/or assumptionsare not intended to be limiting but serve to illustrate example set(s)of parameters and/or assumptions of an example mmW system. Theparameters and/or assumptions may be utilized in various combinations.

For example, an example carrier frequency for mmW operation may be 28GHz. This is an example system numerology. Similar designs may beextended to other mmW frequencies, e.g., 38 GHz, 60 GHz, 72 GHz, etc. Asystem bandwidth may be a variable (e.g., per carrier), for example upto a specific maximum system bandwidth. For example, 1 GHz may be usedas the maximum system bandwidth with carrier aggregation perhaps beingused to achieve higher overall bandwidth. An estimated RMS delay spreadmay be 100-200 ns with narrow beam pattern. A latency may be 1 ms. Awaveform may be OFDM-based or broad-band-single-carrier-based. Forexample, dual connectivity may be based on LTE Small Cell eNB with mmWadd-on channels and two separate antennas and/or RF chains connected totwo different antenna solutions. A system design parameter may be toachieve DL data rates of 30 Mbit/s for at least 95% of mWTRUs, althoughother design goals may be used. A mobility may be optimized dataconnection at 3 km/h and/or maintain connection at 30 km/h. A coveragemay meet data rate and/or mobility requirement with less than 100-m cellradius.

One or more waveforms such as broad-band Cyclic Prefixed Single Carrier(CP-SC), OFDM, SC-OFDM, MC-CDMA, Generalized OFDM, FBMC, and/or othermay be used for the air interface of a system, e.g, an above-6 GHzsystem (e.g., cmW and/or mmW). Frame structure for the system may dependon the applied waveform. A Transmission Time Interval (TTI) length suchas 100 us may be used, e.g., to achieve low latency. A system bandwidth,e.g., one in the range of 50 MHz to 2 GHz may be used, for example, toachieve high data rates.

An mmW frame structure of an OFDM-based waveform may offer flexibilityin coordination between the LTE and mmW channels and/or may enablecommon functional block sharing in a mWTRU device. For example, an mmWsampling frequency may be selected as an integer multiple of the LTEminimum sampling frequency of 1.92 MHz, which may lead to an mmW OFDMsub-carrier spacing Δf being an integer multiple of the LTE sub-carrierspacing of 15 kHz, e.g. Δf=15*K kHz. The selection of the integermultiple K and/or the resulting Δf may take into consideration thesensitivity to the Doppler shift, different types of frequency errors,and/or the ability to remove channel time dispersion, and/or the like.The orthogonality between sub-carriers may deteriorate and/orinter-sub-carrier interference (ISI) may increase, perhaps for examplewhen the Doppler shift increases in proportion to the sub-carrierspacing.

For example, the maximum Doppler shift at 30 km/h and 28 GHz may beapproximately 778 Hz. Example 28-GHz channel time dispersionmeasurements in dense urban area may indicate an RMS delay spread σ thatmay be between 100 and 200 ns for up to 200-m cell radius. The 90%coherence bandwidth may be estimated at 1/50σ of 100 kHz and the 50%coherence bandwidth at 1/5σ of 1 MHz.

A sub-carrier spacing Δf between 100 kHz and 1 MHz may be reasonable. Asub-carrier spacing of 300 kHz (K=20) may be robust against Dopplershift and/or other types of frequency error and/or reduce implementationcomplexity. The corresponding symbol length (1/Δf) may be approximately3.33 us.

A cyclic prefix (CP) length may be configured to span over the entirelength of the channel time dispersion in order to eliminate theinter-symbol-interference. For example, a CP may or might not carryuseful data, and/or in some scenarios a long CP may cause excessivesystem overhead. One example of CP length for a T_(symbol) of 3.33 usmay be selected at 1/14 of T_(symbol), 0.24 us and/or the correspondingCP overhead may be 7% as calculated by T_(CP)/(T_(CP)+T_(symbol)).

The TTI length of the mmW transmission may be reduced compared to the1-ms TTI length of the LTE system, perhaps for example to achieve lowlatency. In some scenarios, it may be beneficial to have an mmWsub-frame length of 1 ms to align with the LTE 1-ms sub-frame timing.The mmW sub-frame may contain multiple mmW TTIs whose length may be tiedto other parameters, e.g., sub-carrier spacing, symbol length, CPlength, and/or FFT size, etc.

Based on these and/or other considerations, an example with aconservative CP length (4× channel delay spread) is summarized inTable 1. It may be assumed that CP length selection is based on thedelay spread over potential mmW frequency band of lower than 200 ns.

TABLE 1 Example mmW Downlink OFDM Numerology OFDM Numerology ParametersSystem bandwidth (MHz) 125 250 500 1000 Sampling rate (MHz) 153.6 307.2614.4 1228.8 Sub-carrier spacing (kHz) 300 300 300 300 Number ofsub-carrier per RB 12 12 12 12 RB bandwidth (MHz) 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 Numberof assignable RBs 32 64 128 256 Number of occupied sub-carriers 384 7681536 3072 Occupied bandwidth (MHz) 115.2 230.4 460.8 921.6IDFT(Tx)/DFT(Rx) size 512 1024 2048 4096 OFDM symbol duration (us) 3.3333.333 3.333 3.333 CP length (ratio to symbol length) 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 CPlength (us) 0.833 0.833 0.833 0.833 Number of symbols per slot 24 24 2424 Slot duration (TTI) (us) 100 100 100 100 Sub-frame duration (ms) 1 11 1 Number of slots per sub-frame 10 10 10 10 Frame duration (ms) 10 1010 10 Number of sub-frames per frame 10 10 10 10 Number of symbols perTTI per RB 288 288 288 288 Number of symbols per TTI using all RBs 921618432 36864 73728 Signaling overhead 20% 20% 20% 20% Data rate usinguncoded 64QAM (Mbps) 442.368 884.736 1769.472 3538.944 Spectralefficiency 3.538944 3.538944 3.538944 3.538944

FIG. 3 depicts an example OFDM-based frame structure. In FIG. 3, thesystem bandwidth may be 1 GHz and/or a sub-carrier spacing of 300 kHzmay be used with a corresponding symbol length of 3.33 us. An examplecyclic prefix (CP) length of ¼ of T_(symbol) which equals 0.833 us maybe used.

Some of the frame structure examples presented herein may be based on anassumption that an OFDM-based mmW waveform, which may be incorporatedinto the OFDM-based LTE small cell network. The system proceduresdescribed herein may be equally applicable to numerous types of framedesigns and/or should not be interpreted to be bound by this specificframe structure and/or may be applied to other waveform candidates.

The SCmB and/or mWTRU deployments may employ one or more of thefollowing mmW physical layer channels and/or reference signals, forexample, rather than and/or in addition to the LTE physical channels.

An SCmB and/or an mWTRU may employ a unique sequence transmitted pertransmit beam, e.g., a Beam-Specific Reference Signal (BSRS), used forbeam acquisition, timing/frequency synchronization, channel estimationfor a Physical Downlink Directional Control Channel (PDDCCH), beamtracking and/or measurement, etc. The BSRS may carry implicitly beamidentity information including BSRS sequence index. There may bedifferent types of BSRSs. The BSRS resource allocation may bepre-defined.

An SCmB and/or an mWTRU may employ a unique sequence scheduled and/ortransmitted dynamically for the purpose of beam pair measurementspecific for a given antenna port, e.g., an Adaptive Antenna ReferenceSignal (AARS). The AARS may embed implicitly the beam identityinformation in the sequence index and/or carry a small payload includingthe same information.

An SCmB and/or an mWTRU may utilize a Physical Downlink DirectionalControl Channel (PDDCCH). The PDDCCH may carry some or all data relatedcontrol information for an mWTRU to identify, demodulate and/or decodean associated Physical Downlink Directional Data Channel (PDDDCH)correctly. The PDDCCH may be carried in an mmW narrow beam and/or in abroad beam and/or may be applied for different multiple access. Forexample, there may be a common PDDCCH transmitted in downlink mmW broadbeam covering a sector and/or cell and/or a dedicated PDDCCH transmitted(e.g., transmitted) in a narrow beam pair, for example, whenmWTRU-specific data transmission is on-going. The dedicated PDDCCH maycarry scheduling information for its associated PDDDCH on a per-TTIbasis and/or may or might not carry beam specific information. A commonPDDCCH may include cell-specific information including sector/segmentidentity and/or beam identity. In addition, an mWTRU may read the commonPDDCCH to determine if it is scheduled for narrow beam pairing procedurein order to begin narrow beam data transmission subsequently.

An SCmB and/or an mWTRU may utilize a Physical Downlink Directional DataChannel (PDDDCH). The PDDDCH may carry payload information received inthe form of MAC PDU from mmW MAC layer. The resource allocation of thischannel may be determined by the downlink scheduling information carriedin PDDCCH. The PDDDCH intended for a mWTRU may be transmitted in anarrow Tx beam and/or received in a properly paired narrow Rx beam,e.g., a narrow beam pair. Due to this spatial isolation, PDDDCHs fordifferent WTRUs in different beam pairs may reuse a combination of oneor more time, frequency, and/or code resource(s). Multiple PDDDCH mayalso operate in one beam pair using multiple access in one or more ofthe time, frequency, code domain, and/or the like. A common PDDDCH maybe used to carry data in broad mmW antenna pattern associated with thecommon PDDCCH.

An SCmB and/or an mWTRU may utilize symbols embedded in a transmissionfor channel estimation for PDDDCH, e.g., a Demodulation Reference Signal(DMRS). For example, the DMRS may be placed in the time and/or frequencydomain according to pre-defined pattern to ensure correct interpolationand/or reconstruction of the channel.

Some or all channels and/or reference signals in a narrow beam pair maybe beamformed identically and/or considered to be transmitted via aspecific and/or single physical antenna port. Although carryingbroadcast and/or multicast information on a narrow beam can be utilized,given the directivity of the transmission of these channels, carryingbroadcast, multicast, and/or other cell-specific information on thenarrow beam may or might not be optimal application. The SCmB deploymentwith mmW downlink data transmission may adopt a channel mapping asillustrated in FIG. 4 and the mmW channels are marked in bolder linecolor.

An mWTRU may use a phase antenna array to achieve the beamforming gain,for example, in order to compensate the high path loss at mmWfrequencies. At the mmW frequencies the short wavelength may allow acompact form factor of the device design. A large spacing such as 0.7λmay be applied, for example. An element spacing of 0.5λ may be used intheoretical performance analysis.

The phase antenna may apply one or more different beamforming methods.For example, a fully digitized beamforming approach may have a dedicatedRF chain. For example, the RF chain may include RF processing and/oranalog-to-digital conversion (ADC) as depicted in FIG. 5 for an antennaelement. The signal processed by an antenna element may be controlledindependently in phase and/or amplitude to optimize the channelcapacity.

The configuration may have the same number of RF chains and ADCs as thatof antenna elements. The mWTRU antenna may offer (e.g., very) highperformance. The mWTRU antenna configuration may impose costs and/orcomplexity in implementation. The mWTRU antenna configuration may causehigh energy consumption in operation. Fully digitized beamforming may ormight not be adopted in the initial 5G deployments and/or mWTRUimplementations, but may be used in future releases.

FIG. 6 may be an example of analogue beamforming. In analog beamforming,an RF chain may be applied (e.g., only one RF chain) for a given phaseantenna array (PAA). For example, an antenna element may be connected toa phase shifter. The phase shifter may be used to set the weight forbeam forming and/or steering. The number of RF chains may be (e.g.,significantly) reduced using analog beamforming (e.g., as compared todigital beamforming). The energy consumption may be significantlyreduced.

The phase of the signal (e.g, only the phase) at an antenna element maybe adjusted in the beamforming. FIG. 6 shows that the phase shiftingand/or combining may be implemented in different stages, e.g., in RF,base-band (BB) analogue, and/or local-oscillator (LO). One or more ofthe techniques described herein may be used to evaluate theeffectiveness/efficiency of an approach, e.g., signal loss, phase error,and/or power consumption, and/or the like.

The mWTRU analogue beamforming methods may comprise one or more of thefollowing. The mWTRU analogue beamforming algorithms may comprise a gridof beams having a set of fixed beams, e.g., a fixed codebook-basedbeamforming. A beam may be formed by the mWTRU applying a beamformingweight vector v chosen from a pre-defined codebook v∈{v₁, v₂, v₃ . . .v_(N)}, where N denotes the number of fixed beams. A vector may comprisepre-calibrated phase shifts for certain (e.g., one or more, or all)phase shifters and/or may represent a unique analogue beam direction,e.g., “beam”. The number of beams may depend on theHalf-Power-Beam-Width (HPBW) of the beamforming and/or desired coverage.The mWTRU analogue beamforming algorithms may comprise a continuousphase shifting beamforming. For example, the desired weight of a phaseshifter may be calculated based on the estimated short-term channelinformation and/or converted using a high resolution digital-to-analogueconverter (DAC) for the phase shifter. The continuous phase shiftingbeamforming may provide a continuous and/or adaptive beamforming totrack the channel conditions. The algorithm may perform well in one ormore scenarios, e.g., with increased multipath, high angular spread,and/or low WTRU mobility.

An mWTRU may employ a hybrid approach comprising the digitized andanalogue beamforming. For example, the analogue beamforming may beperformed over the phase array antenna elements where an antenna elementis associated with a phase shifter and/or connected to one RF chain. Thedigitized beamforming may comprise a digital precoding applied on thebaseband signal of a RF chain, e.g., when there is more than one RFchain. MIMO schemes may be implemented using digital precoding.

Examples for the basic system parameters of the hybrid beamforming mayinclude one or more of a Number of data stream, N_(DATA); Number of RFchain (TRX), N_(TRX); Number of antenna ports, N_(AP); Number of antennaelements, N_(AE); and/or Number of phase antenna array, N_(PAA), and/orthe like. The configuration of these parameters may impact the systemfunction and/or performance.

For example, perhaps when N_(PAA)≤N_(AP)≤N_(TRX)≤N_(AE), one or more ofthe following may occur. A PAA may comprise multiple antenna elements,e.g., a PAA of size 4×4 has 16 antenna elements. An antenna port may bedefined, and/or the channel over which a symbol on the antenna port isconveyed may be inferred from the channel over which another symbol onthe same antenna port is conveyed. There may be certain (e.g., one ormore) resource grid per antenna port. One or more cell-specificreference signals may support a configuration of one, two, and/or fourantenna ports and/or may be transmitted on antenna ports p=0, p∈{0,1}and p∈{0,1,2,3}, respectively. Multicast-broadcast single-frequencynetwork (MBSFN) reference signals may be transmitted on antenna portp=4. One or more WTRU-specific reference signals associated with PDSCHmay be transmitted on antenna port(s) p=5, p=7, p=8, or one or severalof p∈{7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14}.

One or more demodulation reference signals associated with an enhancedPhysical Downlink Control Channel (EPDCCH) may be transmitted on one orseveral of p∈{107,108,109,110}. Positioning reference signals may betransmitted on antenna port p=6. CSI reference signals may support aconfiguration of one, two, four or eight antenna ports and/or may betransmitted on antenna ports p=15, p∈{15,16}, p∈{15,16,17,18}, andp∈{15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22}, respectively. An antenna port may carrybeamformed reference signal(s) that may be uniquely associated with thisantenna port and/or that can be used to identify the antenna port. Theantenna configuration may become (e.g., fully) digitized as shown inFIG. 5, e.g., perhaps when the number of TRX equals the number ofantenna elements. An example may be one RF chain per antenna element. APAA may be connected to a RF chain (as shown in FIG. 6) and/or multipleRF chains, e.g., depending on the system configuration. In FIG. 7,N_(PAA)<N_(AP)=N_(TRX)<N_(AE), one PAA of size 4×4 is connected to twoRF chains and/or one or more, or each RF, chain has a set of 16 phaseshifters. The PAA may form two narrow beam patterns within a +45° and−45° coverage in azimuth plane. FIG. 8 is an example of two PAAs and/orone or more, or each, PAA may have a dedicated RF chain, e.g.,N_(PAA)=N_(AP)=N_(TRX)≤N_(AE). The example in FIG. 8 may allow a spatialindependence between the two simultaneous beams by placing the PAAs atdifferent orientation e.g. in azimuth plane. An aligned PAA arrangementmay provide an aggregated larger coverage compared to the configurationin FIG. 7. Both configurations with two RF chains may apply MIMO withtwo data streams.

For example, perhaps when N_(AE)>N_(PAA)>N_(AP)=N_(TRX), multiple PAAsmay be connected to a (e.g., single) RF chain by using a switch asdepicted in FIG. 9. A PAA may form a narrow beam pattern covering from+45° to −45° in azimuth plane. They may be oriented separately. Asingle-beam solution may provide (e.g. a good) coverage by using anarrow beam at different direction at different time instances.

For example, when N_(DATA)≤N_(TRX)≤N_(AE), the following may occur.

For example, when N_(DATA)=N_(TRX)=1, a mWTRU may have a single-beamconfiguration and/or may operate one beam at a time. One or more of thefollowing may occur. The mWTRU beamforming may form a narrow beampattern. FIG. 10 is an example for a 16×16 PAA at the strongest angulardirection, e.g., a line-of-sight (LOS) path obtained from beammeasurement. The mWTRU may form a broad beam pattern, e.g. a wide mainlobe. FIG. 11 is an example of a wide main lobe to cover a range ofcontinuous angular directions including strong and/or weak onesin-between. The antenna gain may be reduced (e.g., considerably) with abroad beam pattern, and/or the link budget may worsen.

For example when N_(DATA)=1<N_(TRX), an mWTRU may have simultaneous beampatterns. The beam patterns may be different and/or may be used fordifferent applications. For example, when N_(TRX)=2, an mWTRU may havetwo simultaneous beam patterns that are different and/or may be used fordifferent applications. One or more of the following may apply. ThemWTRU may place two narrow beam patterns at different angular incomingdirections to receive one data stream. For example, coherent beamcombining may be used for spatial diversity and/or mitigate the blockageeffect and/or weak LOS condition. The mWTRU may form one narrow beamand/or one broad beam for different application. For example, the narrowbeam may be used for data transmission and/or the broad beam for controlsignaling.

For example, perhaps when 1<N_(DATA)=N_(TRX), the transmission may applyMIMO to increase the capacity, e.g., in high SNR channel condition. ThemWTRU may place two narrow beam patterns at different angular incomingdirections to receive two data streams in parallel.

One or more of the SCmB beam forming schemes may include fixed beam,adaptive beam forming (e.g., codebook-based and/or non-codebook-based),and/or classical beam forming e.g. Direction-of-Arrival (DoA)estimation. One or more schemes may use different approaches and/or maywork well in certain scenarios. For example the DoA estimation may usesmaller angular spread and/or a mWTRU may (e.g., need to) transmit a LTEuplink reference signal to ensure DoA accuracy. The fixed beam systemmay require beam cycling and/or switching.

One or more of the examples described herein may be explained in termsthat assume an mWTRU antenna configuration and/or beamformingconfiguration. The mWTRU antenna configuration and/or beamformingconfiguration may be based on a single-beam mWTRU antenna configurationwith analogue beamforming as illustrated in FIG. 6. The methods and/ortechniques may also be applied using other beamforming methods such asdigital beamforming and/or hybrid beamforming.

The LTE/LTE-A and/or E-PDCCH have evolved. In Rel-8, REs, REG, CCEand/or PDCCH may be the following. The smallest time-frequency unit fordownlink transmission may be denoted a resource element (RE). A (e.g.one or more, or each) element in the resource grid for antenna port pmay be called a resource element and/or may be uniquely identified bythe index pair (k,l) in a slot where k and/or l may be the indices inthe frequency and/or time domains, respectively. A PDCCH (PhysicalDownlink Control Channel) may carry scheduling assignments and/or othercontrol information. A group of 4 consecutive resource elements may becalled Resource Group Elements (REG). A physical control channel may betransmitted on an aggregation of one or several consecutive controlchannel elements (CCEs), where a control channel element corresponds to9 REGs.

In Rel-11, EPDCCH WTRU-specific Search Space may be the following. TheEPDCCH has been introduced in Rel-11 LTE-Advanced in order to achievefrequency domain ICIC and/or beamforming gain. Hereafter, EPDCCH,ePDCCH, and/or E-PDCCH may be used interchangeably. Also, EREG and/orECCE may be interchangeably used as eREG and/or eCCE, respectively.

In Rel-11, PRB configuration may be the following. In Rel-11, the ePDCCHresources for WTRU-specific search space may be configured as a subsetof PRBs in the PDSCH region. The ePDCCH resources may be configured in aWTRU-specific manner and/or up to two ePDCCH resource sets may beconfigured for a WTRU. An ePDCCH resource set may contain 2, 4, and/or 8PRB-pairs according to the configuration and/or may be configured as alocalized resource set and/or distributed resource set.

In Rel-11, eREG may be defined as the following. In a (e.g. one or more,or each) PRB-pair which is configured as ePDCCH resource, 16 eREGs maybe defined regardless of normal CP and/or extended CP. The REs for eREGsmay be allocated cyclically in a frequency first manner and/or may berate-matched around for the demodulation RS such as antenna ports {107,108, 109, 110}. Randomizing channel estimation performance across eREGSmay occur as the channel estimation performance may be differentaccording to the RE location in a PRB-pair. Since antenna port 107and/or 108 are defined (e.g., only defined) for extended CP, the REs foreREGs may be allocated cyclically in a frequency first manner and/or maybe rate-matched around for the demodulation RS such as antenna ports{107, 108}.

An eCCE may may be defined as the following. An eCCE may be defined asgrouping of 4 and/or 8 eREGs within an ePDCCH resource set. Therefore,the number of eCCEs (N_(eCCE,set)) per ePDCCH resource set may bedefined as a function of the number of PRB pairs (N_(PRB,set))configured for the ePDCCH resource set and/or the number of eREGsgrouped to form an eCCE (N_(eREG)) such asN_(eCCE,set)=16×N_(PRB,set)/N_(eREG). Two types of eCCE may be definedaccording to the mode of ePDCCH resource set such as localized eCCE(L-eCCE) and/or distributed eCCE (D-eCCE). To form an L-eCCE, the 4and/or 8 eREGs located in the same PRB-pair may be grouped together. Onthe other hand, the eREGs in different PRB-pairs may be grouped to forma D-eCCE. Certain (e.g., one or more, or all) eREGs in an ePDCCHresource set may be used to form L-eCCE and/or D-eCCE perhaps accordingto the ePDCCH transmission configured for the ePDCCH resource set. Forinstance, if an ePDCCH resource set may be configured as localizedePDCCH, then certain (e.g., one or more, or all) eREGs in the ePDCCHresource set may be be used to form L-eCCE. In other words, in an ePDCCHresource set, there may be be L-eCCEs and/or D-eCCEs. For example, 4eREGs may be grouped to form an eCCE in the case of normal subframeand/or special subframe configuration 3, 4, 8 in TDD perhaps for examplesince a (e.g, enough) number of REs may be available per eCCE so that acertain (e.g., required) effective coding rate may be used in one ormore scenarios.

An antenna port mapping may be the following. The antenna ports {107,108, 109, 110} and {107, 108} may be used for normal CP and/or extendedCP, respectively. According to the ePDCCH transmission mode (e.g.localized ePDCCH and/or distributed ePDCCH), the antenna port mappingrules may be different as an (e.g., one or more, or each) ePDCCHtransmission mode targeted for different system and/or channelenvironments. For instance, antenna port mapping for the distributedePDCCH may be designed to maximize diversity gain as it has beenintroduced for open-loop transmission. On the other hand, antenna portmapping rules for localized ePDCCH may be defined to exploitWTRU-specific beamforming gain as well as multi-user MIMO gain.

For the distributed ePDCCH, two (e.g, only two, or more than two)antenna ports {107, 109} may be used out of {107, 108, 109, 110} inorder to improve channel estimation gain while certain (e.g., one ormore, or all) antenna ports may be used for localized ePDCCH. This maybe due to the fact that WTRU-specific beamforming may use (e.g.,require) larger number of antenna ports as one PRB-pair may be sharedwith up to 4 WTRUs. This may allow WTRU-specific beamforming of up to 4WTRUs within a PRB-pair, for example.

A reference signal sequence may be the following. A predefined sequence(e.g., Pseudo-random (PN), m-sequence and/or etc.) may be multipliedwith downlink RS so as to minimize inter-cell and/or intra-cellinterference. This may improve channel estimation accuracy and/orincreasing multi-user spatial multiplexing gain. For some (e.g., any) ofthe EPDCCH antenna ports {107, 108, 109, 110}, the reference signalsequence r(m) may be defined by

${{r(m)} = {{\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left( {1 - {2 \cdot {c\left( {2m} \right)}}} \right)} + {j\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left( {1 - {2 \cdot {c\left( {{2m} + 1} \right)}}} \right)}}},{m = \left\{ {\begin{matrix}{0,1,\ldots \;,{{12N_{RB}^{\max,{DL}}} - 1}} & {{normal}\mspace{14mu} {cyclic}\mspace{14mu} {prefix}} \\{0,1,\ldots \;,{{16N_{RB}^{\max,{DL}}} - 1}} & {{extended}\mspace{14mu} {cycle}\mspace{14mu} {prefix}}\end{matrix},} \right.}$

where the N_(RB) ^(max,DL) denotes the maximum number of RBs for thedownlink system bandwidth and c(i) denotes pseudo-random sequence. Thepseudo-random sequence generator may be initialized with

c _(init)=(└n _(s)/2┘+1)·(2n _(ID) ^(EPDCCH)+1)·2¹⁶ +n _(SCID) ^(EPDCCH)

at the start of a (e.g., one or more, or each subframe). The n_(ID)^(EPDCCH) may be independently configured for a (e.g., one or more, oreach) EPDCCH resource set and n_(SCID) ^(EPDCCH)=2 may be used.

A WTRU-specific search space may be the following. In Rel-11, aWTRU-specific search space may be introduced (e.g., only introduced) forEPDCCH. Common search space may be located at the PDCCH region. The WTRUmonitoring behavior for downlink control signaling reception may bedefined in a downlink subframe as one of following. A WTRU may monitorWTRU-specific search space in EPDCCH and/or common search space inPDCCH, e.g., where the EPDCCH monitoring subframe may be configured viahigher layer signaling. A WTRU may monitor WTRU-specific search spaceand/or common search space in PDCCH. The WTRU-specific search spacefallback may be used, perhaps even though a subframe is configured tomonitor ePDCCH subframe, e.g., when ePDCCH is not available in thatsubframe. Some collisions between ePDCCH REs and/or other signals mayoccur. A WTRU may monitor PDCCH for WTRU-specific search space.

The aggregation level may increase to keep an effective coding rate,perhaps when the available number of REs may be smaller than a threshold(n_(EPDCCH)<104). For instance, the supportable ePDCCH formats forlocalize transmission when n_(EPDCCH)<104 may be N_(ECCE)∈{2,4,8,16}while N_(ECCE)∈{1,2,4,8} may be used in other cases. The set ofaggregation levels may be different according to the ePDCCH transmissionmodes.

Collision handling may be performed. The ePDCCH REs may be defined asthe REs in a PRB-pair not occupied by antenna port {107,108,109,110}.FIG. 1-24 may show an example of the ePDCCH RE definition in a PRB-pairaccording to the CP length without collision with other signals,resulting in 144 and/or 128 available REs for normal CP and/or extendedCP, respectively. The ePDCCH resources may be configured in PDSCHregion. The REs for ePDCCH may collide with other signals, e.g., CSI-RS,CRS, PRS, PBCH, SCH, and/or PDCCH. The WTRU behavior when the REscollide with other signals may be defined as one or more of thefollowing. The coded bits for ePDCCH may be rate-matched around for theREs colliding with CSI-RS, CRS, and/or PDCCH. The PRB-pair used for PBCHand SCH in a subframe may or might not be used for ePDCCH. The availableREs for ePDCCH may become smaller, e.g., when other signals aretransmitted in the PRB-pair configured for ePDCCH.

Transmit and/or receive beamforming may be applied to the controlchannel transmission/reception, e.g., to overcome high path loss at >6Ghz frequencies. The resulting beamformed link may be considered as aspatial filtering and/or limit the WTRU to receive incoming angularpaths (e.g., only incoming angular paths) within the formed beam pair.

Legacy cellular systems may rely on Omni directional and/or cell-widebeams for control channel transmissions. From a WTRU's point of view,the placement of control channel may be well defined, e.g. in thecontrol region. At higher frequencies, a (e.g., one or more, or each)base station may have plurality of control channel beams to cover thecell. A WTRU may be able to (e.g., only be able to) receive a subset ofthose control channel beams. One or more techniques to identifycandidate control channel beams and/or their location in the subframestructure may be defined for efficient WTRU operation.

One or more mBs and/or WTRUs in a beam formed system may have diverseset of capabilities, for example, different number of RF chains,different beam widths, and/or different number of PAAs, etc. One or moremBs with multiple RF chains may transmit control channel beam(s) in thesame control symbol. One or more WTRUs with one or more, or multiple, RFchains may receive using receive beam pattern(s) same control symbol.One or more mBs with, for example, one RF chain may (e.g., need to)multiplex control channel beams in time domain (e.g. different symbolsand/or different subframes). One or more mBs with RF chain(s) maymultiplex control channel beams in time and/or spatial domains.

A framework for beam formed control channel design may be used tosupport varying capabilities of mBs and/or WTRUs and/or support timeand/or spatial domain multiplexing of control channel beams.

The common reference signal design in LTE may assume cell widetransmission. For a multi-beam system, modifications to reference signaldesign may be used to discover, identify, measure, and/or decode a(e.g., one or more, or each) control channel beam. In a multi-beamsystem, interference between beams may degrade overall cell capacity, soadditional mechanisms to mitigate inter-beam interference may be useful,e.g, for intra-cell and/or inter-cell scenarios.

WTRU monitoring may be defined to consider beam search space in additionto time and/or frequency search space.

Enhancements to downlink control channel may be useful to supportscheduling narrow data beams. One or more mechanisms may be useful toachieve high resource utilization, e.g., perhaps when large bandwidthsare available and/or WTRUs may be spatially distributed.

A mB, SCmB, mmW eNB, eNB, cell, small cell, Pcell, and/or Scell may beused interchangeably. The term operate may be used interchangeably withtransmit and/or receive. Component carrier and/or mmW carrier may beused interchangeably with serving cell.

The mmW eNB may transmit and/or receive one or more mmW channels in aband (e.g., licensed band and/or unlicensed). The mmW eNB may transmitand/or receive one or more signals in a band (e.g., licensed band and/orunlicensed). One or more WTRUs may be substituted for eNB and still beconsistent with the techniques described herein. An eNB may besubstituted for WTRUs and still be consistent with the techniquesdescribed herein. UL may be substituted for downlink (DL) and still beconsistent with the techniques described. DL may be substituted for ULand still be consistent with the techniques described herein.

A channel may refer to a frequency band which may have a center and/orcarrier frequency and a bandwidth. Licensed spectrum may include one ormore channels which may or might not overlap. Unlicensed spectrum mayinclude one or more channels which may or might not overlap. Channel,frequency channel, wireless channel, and/or mmW channel may be usedinterchangeably. Accessing a channel may be the same as using (e.g.,transmitting on and/or receiving on and/or using) the channel.

A channel may refer to an mmW channel and/or signal, e.g., an uplinkphysical channel and/or signal. A channel may refer to an mmW channeland/or signal, e.g., a downlink physical channel and/or signal. Downlinkchannels and/or signals may comprise one or more of the following: mmWsynchronization signal, mmW broadcast channel, mmW cell referencesignal, mmW beam reference signal, mmW beam control channel, mmW beamdata channel, mmW hybrid ARQ indicator channel, mmW demodulationreference signal, PSS, SSS, DMRS, CRS, CSI-RS, PBCH, PDCCH, PHICH,EPDCCH, and/or PDSCH, and the like. Uplink channels and/or signals mayinclude one or more of the following: mmW PRACH, mmW control channel,mmW data channel, mmW beam reference signal, mmW demodulation referencesignal, PRACH, PUCCH, SRS, DMRS, and/or PUSCH, and the like. Channel andmmW channel may be used interchangeably. Channels and signals may beused interchangeably.

Data/control may mean one or more of the following: data, controlsignals, and/or channels, and the like. Control may comprisesynchronization. The data/control may be mmW data/control. Data/control,data/control channels, and/or signals may be used interchangeably.Channels and signals may be used interchangeably. The terms controlchannel, control channel beam, PDCCH, mPDCCH, mmW PDCCH, mmW controlchannel, directional PDCCH, beamformed control channel, spatial controlchannel, control channel slice, and/or high frequency control channelmay be used interchangeably. The terms data channel, data channel beam,PDSCH, mPDSCH, mmW PDSCH, mmW data channel, directional PDSCH,beamformed data channel, spatial data channel, data channel slice,and/or high frequency data channel may be used interchangeably.

Channel resources may be resources (e.g., 3GPP LTE and/or LTE-Aresources), e.g., time, frequency, code, and/or spatial resources.Channel resources, e.g., at least sometimes, carry one or more channelsand/or signals. Channel resources may be used interchangeably withchannels and/or signals.

A mmW beam reference signal, mmW reference resource for beammeasurement, mmW measurement reference signal, mmW channel statemeasurement reference signal, mmW demodulation reference signal, mmWsounding reference signal, reference signal, CSI-RS, CRS, DM-RS, DRS,measurement reference signal, reference resource for measurement,CSI-IM, and/or measurement RS may be used interchangeably. A mmW cell,mmW small cell, SCell, secondary cell, license-assisted cell, unlicensedcell, and/or LAA cell may be used interchangeably. A mmW cell, mmW smallcell, PCell, primary cell, LTE cell, and/or licensed cell may be usedinterchangeably. Interference and interference plus noise may be usedinterchangeably.

A WTRU may determine the UL and/or DL directions of one or moresubframes according to one or more received TDD UL/DL configurations. AWTRU may determine the UL and/or DL directions of one or more subframesaccording to one or more configured TDD UL/DL configurations. UL/DL andUL-DL may be used interchangeably.

The techniques described herein for beamformed control and data channelsmay be applicable to any system, perhaps irrespective of the frequencybands, usage (e.g. licensed, unlicensed, shared), antenna configuration(e.g. phased array and/or patch and/or horn etc.), RF configuration(e.g. single and/or multiple RF chains), beamforming methods used (e.g.digital, analog and/or hybrid, codebook based and/or otherwise), and/ordeployments (e.g. macro, small cell, heterogeneous networks, dualconnectivity, remote radio heads, carrier aggregation). A mmW(millimeter wave) may be substituted for cmW (centimeter wave) and/orLTE/LTE-A/LTE evolution and still be consistent with the techniquesdescribed herein.

A scheduling interval may refer to the subframe and/or slot and/orframe, and/or schedulable slice and/or control channel periodicityand/or any other pre-defined time unit. Gaps and/or guard periods and/orsilence periods and/or switching periods and/or absence of transmissionand/or DTX periods may be used interchangeably.

The terms channel, beam and/or channel beams may be usedinterchangeably. Antenna pattern, phase weights, steering vector,codebook, precoding, radiation pattern, beam pattern, beam, beam width,beam formed transmission, antenna port, virtual antenna port,transmission associated with a reference signal, directionaltransmission, and/or spatial channel may be used interchangeably.

The terms REGs and CCEs may refer to plurality of time, frequency, codeand/or spatial resources generally and/or may or might not be limited bythe LTE numerology/context (e.g., the LTE REGs and LTE CCEs may beconsidered types of REGs and CCEs in the context of the techniquesdescribed herein). Radiation pattern may refer to the angulardistribution of the radiated electromagnetic field and/or power level inthe far field region.

A beam may be one of the lobes, e.g., main/side/grating lobes of thetransmit radiation pattern and receive gain pattern of an antenna array.A beam may denote a spatial direction that may be represented with abeamforming weight vector. A beam may be identified and/or associatedwith one or more of a reference signal, an antenna port, a beam identity(ID), a scrambling sequence number, and/or the like. A beam may betransmitted and/or received at a specific time. A beam may betransmitted and/or received at a specific frequency. A beam may betransmitted and/or received at a specific code. A beam may betransmitted and/or received at specific spatial resources. A beam may beformed digitally and/or in an analogue manner (hybrid beamforming). Theanalogue beamforming may be based on fixed code-book and/or continuousphase shifting. A beam may comprise Omni directional and/or Quasi-Omnidirectional transmission. Two beams may be differentiated by directionof highest radiated power and/or by beam width.

One or more reference signals may be associated with one or more searchspaces and/or one or more antenna ports. One or more search spaces maybe associated with one or more beam search spaces and/or one or moreantenna port search spaces.

In some scenarios, the WTRU may be configured to receive one or moresearch spaces from a wireless communication system network node, perhapsdynamically. In some scenarios, a WTRU may be configured such that theone or more search spaces are predefined on the WTRU.

A data channel beam may be used to transmit one or more of thefollowing: data channel, data channel beam, PDSCH, mPDSCH, mmW PDSCH,mmW data channel, directional PDSCH, beamformed data channel, spatialdata channel, data channel slice, high frequency data channel, and thelike. A data channel beam may be identified and/or associated with oneor more of the following: a reference signal, an antenna port, a beamidentity (ID), a scrambling sequence number and/or a data channelnumber, and the like. A data channel beam may be transmitted and/orreceived at a specific time. A data channel beam may be transmittedand/or received at a specific frequency. A data channel beam may betransmitted and/or received at a specific code. A data channel beam maybe transmitted and/or received at specific spatial resources.

A control channel beam may be used to transmit one or more of thefollowing: control channel, PDCCH, mPDCCH, mmW PDCCH, mmW controlchannel, directional PDCCH, beamformed control channel, spatial controlchannel, control channel slice, high frequency control channel, and thelike. The control channel may carry DCI for one or more users. Thecontrol channel may carry PHICH and PCFICH in the downlink and PUCCH inthe uplink. A control channel beam may be identified and/or associatedwith one or more of the following: a reference signal, an antenna port,a beam identity (ID), a scrambling sequence number, a control channelnumber, and the like. A control channel beam may be transmitted and/orreceived at a specific time. A control channel beam may be transmittedand/or received at a specific frequency. A control channel beam may betransmitted and/or received at a specific code. A control channel beammay be transmitted and/or received at specific spatial resources. Acontrol channel beam may be cell specific and/or WTRU specific.

A common channel may be used to refer to transmission that carriesinformation useful for plurality of WTRUs. The term common channel maybe used interchangeably with shared channel.

Half Power Beam Width (HPBW) may refer to a radiation pattern cutcontaining the direction of the maximum of a lobe, the angle between twodirections in which the radiation intensity is one-half the maximumvalue. The exact beam width for the beamformed control/data channel mayor might not be specified and may depend on mB and/or WTRUimplementation. A mB may support WTRUs with varying capabilities. WTRUsmay work in an mB with varying capabilities.

A control channel beam duration may be a number of OFDM symbols in ascheduling interval occupied by a control channel beam.

A control region may be the number of OFDM symbols in a schedulinginterval occupied by some or all of the control channel beamstransmitted in the scheduling interval.

Fixed codebook-based analogue beamforming may refer to a grid of beamsthat may comprise a set of fixed beams. A beam may be formed by applyinga beamforming weight vector v chosen from a pre-defined codebook v∈{v₁,v₂, v₃ . . . v_(N)} where N denotes the number of fixed beams. Thenumber of beams may depend on the Half-Power-Beam-Width (HPBW) of thebeamforming and desired coverage.

A continuous phase shifting analogue beamforming may provide acontinuous and adaptive beamforming to track channel conditions. Thedesired weight of a phase shifter may be calculated based on theestimated channel information, e.g., angular information. The desiredweight of a phase shifter may be converted using a high resolutiondigital-to-analogue converter (DAC) to apply to the phase shifter.

An antenna port may be defined. The channel over which a symbol on theantenna port is conveyed may be inferred from the channel over whichanother symbol on the same antenna port is conveyed. A time-frequencyresource grid may be considered to be available per antenna port. Forexample, a (e.g., one or more, or each) antenna port may be consideredto be orthogonal to other antenna ports such that the time-frequencyresources may be used for independent transmissions on a (e.g., one ormore, or each) antenna port. Code multiplexing may also be used on oneor more antenna ports.

The beamforming contains building blocks. An example subframe may havethe following structure. A subframe and/or scheduling interval and/orslot and/or a predefined time unit may comprise plurality of symbols.One or more symbol(s) may be used to transmit and/or carry and/orinclude and/or map and/or be configured to receive the one or morecontrol signal/channel/information. One or more symbol(s) maytransmit/carry/include and/or be configured to receive one or more datachannels.

Beamformed control and/or data channels may be one or more of thefollowing. Control and/or data channels may be transmitted using aspecific radiation pattern and/or beam. A control channel beam may beassociated with one or more of the following: a unique reference signal,a steering vector, a scrambling code, an antenna port, time, code,spatial resource, frequency resource, and/or control channel identity,and/or the like. A data channel beam may be associated with one or moreof the following: a unique reference signal, a steering vector, ascrambling code, an antenna port, time, code, spatial resource,frequency resource, and/or control channel identity, and the like. An mBand/or cell may transmit plurality of beamformed control and/or datachannels. Beamformed control and/or data channels may be multiplexed intime.

Data region with one or more beamformed data channel(s) may work. One ormore symbols within a subframe where the data channel is transmitted maybe referred to as data region. Within a subframe, the data region maycomprise multiple data channel beams multiplexed in time. For example, adata channel in a particular beam may occupy one more symbol(s). Theremaining symbols within the same subframe may be used to transmit datachannel in other beams. A data channel beam within the data region maybe of variable beam widths. The maximum data channel beam width for aWTRU may be as wide as its control channel beam width. A WTRU mayreceive one or more data channels transmitted. A WTRU may use one ormore beams and/or beam widths within a subframe and/or across differentsubframes. Plurality of WTRUs may be time multiplexed within a subframe,within same data channel beam and/or across different data channelbeams. Minimum schedulable time resource within a subframe may be asymbol and/or group of symbols. Scheduling granularity may be less thana subframe, e.g., a new DCI format may carry allocation information atsymbol level/symbol group.

The system may comprise a control region with one or more beamformedcontrol channel(s). One or more symbols within a subframe where thecontrol channel is transmitted may be referred to as cell specificcontrol region and/or an overall control region. Within a subframe, thecell specific control region may comprise multiple control channel beamsmultiplexed in time. One or more symbols within a subframe where thecontrol channel for a specific beam is transmitted may be referred to asbeam specific control region. The term control region may mean cellspecific control region and/or beam specific control region. Controlregion size may be fixed and/or be flexible. Control region and dataregion may overlap. One or more symbols may carry control and/or datachannel. Control and/or data channel may be multiplexed in frequencyand/or code and/or spatial domain.

The one or more search spaces may be configured to be used to monitorone or more Downlink (DL) control channels. The one or more searchspaces may be configured to be used to receive the one or more DLcontrol channels. At least one search space of the one or more searchspaces may correspond to at least one reference signal of one or morereference signals. At least a part of a control region may be monitoredfor at least one reference signal of the one or more reference signals.At least one reference signal in the at least part of the control regionmay be detected. At least one search space corresponding to the at leastone reference signal may be monitored for at least one DL controlchannel, perhaps for example upon the detection of the at least onereference signal.

The system may comprise gaps and/or switching periods. Gaps and/or guardperiods and/or silence periods and/or switching periods and/or absenceof transmission and/or DTX periods may be placed between two consecutivesymbols. The two consecutive symbols may carry transmissions withdifferent beam direction and/or radiation pattern and/or steeringvector. Different gap types may be identified. One or more of thefollowing examples may be identified, depending on the placement: gapsbetween two control symbols and/or group of control symbols, gapsbetween two data symbols and/or group of data symbols, and/or gapsbetween control symbols and data symbols (e.g. between the last controlsymbol and first data symbol and/or between the first control symbol andlast data symbol), and/or the like.

Different gap types may be preconfigured with a different duration. Samegap type may be preconfigured with a different duration in differentsubframes. Gaps may be selectively placed between two consecutivesymbols. The two consecutive symbols may be transmitted with a differentradiation pattern. The two consecutive symbols may be transmitted with adifferent beam pattern. The two consecutive symbols may be transmittedwith a different direction. The two consecutive symbols may betransmitted with a different channel type. Gaps may be selectivelyplaced between control and data symbols. Gaps within the same subframemay have different duration. Gaps may or might not be present in some orall of the subframes. Gaps may be placed between control symbols and mayor might not be placed in the data symbols. Gaps may be placed betweendata symbols and may or might not be placed in the control symbols.Within the control and/or data region, gaps may be selectively placedbetween a subset of symbols.

The gaps may be defined from a WTRU point of view. A WTRU may or mightnot be required to receive on the DL during the gap periods (e.g., thegap between control symbols and data symbols for a WTRU). A WTRU mayutilize the gap periods to decode the control channel, e.g., controlchannels received before the start of gap period. A WTRU may utilize thegap periods to switch its receive beam. A WTRU may utilize the gapperiods to apply new steering vector to receive the downlink datachannel. The downlink data channel may be different from the receivebeam and/or steering vector used to receive the downlink controlchannel. A WTRU may utilize the gap periods (e.g. the gap between datasymbols and/or group of data symbols for a WTRU) to switch its receivebeam. A WTRU may utilize the gap periods (e.g. the gap between datasymbols and/or group of data symbols for a WTRU) to apply new steeringvector to receive the downlink data channel, which may be different fromthe receive beam and/or steering vector used to receive the previousdownlink data channel in a subframe (e.g., same or different).

An mmW control channel may be designed, e.g., to facilitate controlchannel beam mapping to physical source. One or more control channels ina cell may be beamformed. One or more control channels in a cell may beplaced in different control symbol and/or groups of control symbols in asubframe.

For example, an mB may utilize sweep operation to go through all or someof the control beams. An mB may transmit control channel beams in asubframe, e.g., one or more, or all, the control channel beams in everysubframe. An mB may receive control channels in a subframe. For example,entire cell coverage may receive control channels in every subframe. AnmB may utilize sweep operation, for example, starting from one controlbeam and going through some (e.g., one or more, or all) of the controlbeams in the cell in certain order. The sweep operation may go throughselected (e.g., only specific) symbols in a subframe (e.g. only in thecontrol region). The mB may utilize multiple subframes to transmit allor some of the control channel beams. For example, a subframe maycomprise a partial sweep of control channel beams. One or more subframesmay be used for a complete sweep of control channel beams to cover theentire cell. The mB may follow a certain order for the sweep operation.For example, it may transmit control channel beams in a sequence basedon control channel number and/or BRS sequence number. The mB may followa random order for the sweep. The random order may be generated from ahashing function. The hashing function may use control channel numberand/or subframe number etc.

The mapping between control channel beam(s) and/or control symbol(s) maybe pre-defined and/or signaled via one or more of the following:broadcast channel(s) (e.g., MIB, SIB-x), higher layer signaling (e.g.RRC/MAC), L1 signal/channels, and/or any other common channel, and/orthe like. The mapping between control channel beam(s) and control symbolgroup(s) may be pre-defined and signaled via one or more of thefollowing: broadcast channel(s) (e.g., MIB, SIB-x), higher layersignaling (e.g. RRC/MAC), L1 signal/channels, any other common channel,and the like. WTRUs may determine the control channel beam to controlsymbol mapping by blind decoding. For example, WTRUs may search forpre-defined BRS sequence in the control region, and WTRUs may determinethe control channel beam to symbol mapping, e.g., based on the receivedBRS signal quality (e.g. RSRP, SNR etc.).

An mB may select a subset of beams. The mB may transmit a subset ofcontrol channel beams in a subframe. The subset may be determined by oneor more of the following criterias: distribution of WTRUs in a celland/or beam, activity level of WTRUs in the cell and/or beam (e.g.,buffer status of WTRUs, traffic pattern for WTRUs), WTRU grouping, WTRUservice requirements, number of control channels with or withoutbeamforming, scheduling algorithm, intra and inter cell interference,and/or type of control channel (e.g. common control and/or WTRU specificcontrol), and the like. The mB may transmit a (e.g., only one) controlchannel beam in a subframe. The data region in the subframe may comprisetransmissions using the same control channel beam and/or any other datachannel beam related to the control channel beam, e.g, narrow datachannel beam related to the control channel beam.

The mapping between a control channel beam and a symbol and/or a symbolgroup associated with a subframe (e.g., within a subframe and/or acrosssubframes) may be fixed and/or flexible. The following may be applicableirrespective of control channel beam selection mode (e.g. subsettransmission and/or full sweep transmission).

The mapping between a control channel beam and a symbol and/or a symbolgroup associated with a subframe, e.g., within a subframe and/or acrosssubframes, may be fixed. In a fixed mapping, a control channel beam,e.g, every control channel beam, may be placed and/or transmitted in apre-defined symbol and/or symbol group within a subframe. The mappingbetween the control channel beam and the symbol number may be same incertain (e.g., one or more, or all) subframes. For example, controlchannel beam 1 may be transmitted during symbol number 1 in a (e.g.,every) subframe. Symbol hopping may be used for control channel beamsaccording to a pre-defined hashing function. For example, a function mayuse control channel number, cell ID, BRS sequence ID, subframe number,symbol number etc. WTRUs may determine the mapping between the controlchannel beam and the symbol/symbol group, e.g., implicitly based on thePBCH beam mapping. WTRUs may determine the mapping between controlchannel beam and the symbol/symbol group based on explicit configurationusing one or more of the following: broadcast channel(s) (e.g., MIB,SIB-x), higher layer signaling (e.g. RRC/MAC), L1 signal/channels, andthe like. WTRUs may determine the mapping between control channel beamand the symbol/symbol group based on a pre-defined function of cell-IDand/or beam-ID. Many to one mapping between control channel beams andcontrol symbol/symbol group may be defined.

With a fixed mapping structure, control channel beams with no activeWTRUs may have blank and/or empty control symbols. The blank and/orempty control symbols may be reclaimed and/or reused to map data channelbeams, e.g., to improve resource utilization. The data channel beams maybe scheduled by control channel beams occurring before the originalblank and/or empty symbol. The data channel beams may be scheduled bycontrol channel beams occurring after the original blank and/or emptysymbol. WTRUs may buffer the complete subframe before the controlchannel decoding is complete. PDSCH may be mapped to the unused (e.g.,empty and/or blank) control symbols. The unused control symbols mayprecede the associated PDCCH.

The mapping between a control channel beam and a symbol and/or a symbolgroup associated with a subframe, e.g., within a subframe and/or acrosssubframes, may be flexible. In a flexible mapping, a control channelbeam may be placed and/or transmitted in a (e.g., any) symbol and/orsymbol group in a subframe. Multiple control channel beams in a subframemay be transmitted using different symbols, e.g., time multiplexed. Themapping between control channel beams and the symbol/symbol group mayvary for different subframe. An mB may selectively transmit a subset ofcontrol channel beams in a subframe. The number of control channel beamstransmitted may vary for different subframes. The number of controlsymbols occupied by a control channel beam may vary for differentsubframes. The number of control symbols occupied by different controlchannel beams in a subframe may vary.

The mapping between a control channel beam and a symbol and/or a symbolgroup associated with a subframe, e.g., within a subframe and/or acrosssubframes, in a frame structure may be a hybrid of fixed and flexiblemapping. The mB may use a fixed mapping for some beam types (e.g.,common control beams and/or Omni beams, and/or WTRU specific controlbeams). The mB may use a flexible mapping for other beam types (e.g.,WTRU specific control beams, and/or common control beams and/or Omnibeams). The mB may use a fixed mapping for some subframes and a flexiblemapping for other subframes. The mapping format for different subframesmay be explicitly signaled using one or more of the following: broadcastchannel(s) (e.g., MIB, SIB-x), higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC/MAC),and/or L1 signal/channels, and the like. The mapping format fordifferent subframes may be implicitly known by the presence of certainchannels. For example, subframes with PBCH may use fixed mapping. Aflexible mapping may be the default mode, and a fixed mapping may beapplied in some (e.g., specific) subframes at a pre-defined periodicity.

For example, a fixed mapping between control channel beam RS and/or thecontrol symbols may assist WTRU measurement at specific subframes. An mBmay use a fixed mapping for a subset of beams for WTRUs in idle mode anda flexible mapping for WTRUs in connected mode. An mB may use a fixedmapping for WTRUs in connected mode and a subset of beams for WTRUs inidle mode. An mB may use a fixed mapping when the cell is lightly loaded(e.g. when the number of active WTRUs are small) switch to a flexiblemapping when the cell is highly loaded. WTRUs may determine the mappingformat for control channel beams from the configuration received in oneor more of the following: broadcast channel(s) (e.g., MIB, SIB-x),higher layer signaling (e.g. RRC/MAC), L1 signal/channels, any othercommon channel, and/or the like. One or more WTRUs may determine thechange/switch in control channel beam mapping from configurationreceived in one or more of the following: broadcast channel(s) (e.g.,MIB, SIB-x), higher layer signaling (e.g. RRC/MAC), and/or L1signal/channels, any other common channel, and/or the like.

An mmW control channel beam may have various control channel beams. ThemmW control channel beam may carry plurality of control channelsaddressed to one or more WTRUs. The control channel beam may carry oneof more of the following: the Downlink Control Information (DCI) [e.g.,the DCI may include scheduling grant (UL and DL)], UL control channelassignment, beam switch command, power control commands and/or any othercontrol information, higher layer messages (MAC, RRC), small payload(e.g. broadcast messages like SIB/Paging), cell and/or beam specificreference signals for demodulation, measurement for one or more WTRUs,and/or the like. The minimum time domain resource occupied by thecontrol channel beam may be one symbol. The maximum time domain resourceoccupied by the control channel beam may be pre-configured (e.g., inMIB/SIB-x) and/or dynamically signaled using beam specific PCFICH. Thedwell time of the control channel beam may be pre-configured (e.g. inMIB/SIB-x) and/or dynamically signaled using beam specific PCFICH. Thetime domain resources (e.g. number of symbols) occupied by commoncontrol channel beam may be fixed (e.g., in MIB/SIB-x). The WTRUspecific control channel beam may be dynamic (e.g., beam specificPCFICH).

The mmW control beam may carry one or more PDCCHs. The PDCCHs may beaddressed for/to one or more WTRUs. A PDCCH may be transmitted on anaggregation of one or several CCEs (Control Channel Elements), e.g.,where a control channel element may correspond to two or more REGs(Resource Element Groups). Different PDCCH formats may be defined, e.g.,based on aggregation levels of CCEs. PDCCH may be transmitted, e.g.,using a hierarchy of different groups of resource elements. Theallocation of number of basic resource units for a level of resourcegroup may be associated with PDCCH link adaptation scheme and/or otherconsiderations. One or more characteristics/property of REs may be afunction of beam ID and/or beam type. One or morecharacteristics/property of CCEs may be a function of beam ID and/orbeam type.

Common control channel beams and/or WTRU specific control channel beamsmay use different PDCCH formats and/or aggregation levels. There may bea fixed aggregation level on the WTRU specific control channel beam. Thenumber of REGs per CCE may vary for different beam type. For example,common control channel beam may have higher number of REGs per CCE. Theresource block structure and/or subcarrier spacing may vary fordifferent beam types. For example, symbols carrying common controlchannel beams and/or symbols carrying WTRU specific control beams mayuse different subcarrier spacings. Common control channel beams may bescrambled by a cell specific (e.g. cell ID) and/or beam specific (e.g.beam ID) identity. WTRU specific control channel beams may be scrambledby one or more of the following: a cell specific (e.g. cell ID), a beamspecific (e.g. beam ID), a WTRU specific identity (e.g. C-RNTI), and/orthe like. One or more modulation schemes and/or coding rates used forthe control channel beam may be specific to beam type. For example,common control channel may use a fixed and/or preconfigured modulationscheme and/or coding rate. The WTRU specific control channel beam mayuse a dynamic MCS adaptation. The dynamic MCS adaptation may be signaledusing beam PCFICH. Beam types may be WTRU specific. For example, a WTRUmay use a common control channel beam. A WTRU may use a WTRU specificcontrol channel beam. A WTRU may use a beam carrying common controlchannel scheduling and/or WTRU specific scheduling information. The partof the subframe where common control channel beams are transmitted maybe referred as common control region. The part of the subframe whereWTRU specific control channel beams are transmitted may be referred asdedicated control region.

The following examples are subframe configurations showing controlchannel beam placement and/or resource structure. The example figuresfor different control channel placement shown are not exhaustive and/orother control channel placements may be used. The figures are not meantto be exhaustive, e.g., all channels are not captured in the figure. Forpurposes of clarity and/or explanation, examples may be described interm of DL subframes and/or (e.g., only DL subframes are shown) ULsubframes may be ignored. One or more techniques described in terms ofDL operation may be equally applicable to uplink operation. The widetransmit beams at the mB may be referred here as B1, B2, B3, B4 etc. Thenarrow transmit beams may be referred to as B11, B12 (e.g., within B1),B21, B22 (e.g., within B2) etc.

In FIG. 12, the mB may transmit one or more wide beam control channelsper subframe. For example, subframe 1 may carry the control channelbeams B1 and/or B2, subframe 2 may control channel beams B3, etc. A(e.g., one or more, or each) control channel beam may carry DCI for oneor more WTRUs. A (e.g., one or more, or each) control channel beamwithin a subframe may carry some unique content. For example, a DCI fora WTRU (e.g., a particular DCI for a WTRU) may be carried in a (e.g.,only one) control channel beam. A control channel beam within thesubframe may carry the same DCI content. The number of control channelbeams per TTI may vary. For example, it may range from one controlchannel beam per TTI to the maximum available number of control channelbeams in the cell. Length/duration of a (e.g., one or more, or each)control channel beam may vary (e.g. from one to more symbols). The dataregion within a subframe may carry PDSCH for one or more WTRUs, e.g.,the PDSCH transmission for different WTRUs may be multiplexed in time,frequency, and/or spatial domain. For example, multiple PDSCH beams maybe transmitted within the data region. The beam width of a data beam maybe adjusted based on one or more of the following: WTRU location,throughput requirements, and/or interference consideration, and/or thelike. The mapping between the control channel beam and the symbol numberwithin the control region may be flexible. WTRUs may receive assistanceinformation about the control channel configuration, e.g., from PBCHand/or from Omni PCFICH channel.

In FIG. 13, mB may transmit one (e.g., exactly one) wide beam controlchannel per subframe. For example subframe 1 may carry the controlchannel beam B1 and/or B2, subframe 2 may carry control channel beams B3etc. WTRUs may be configured to monitor certain (e.g., only certain)subframes for a possible occurrence of the pre-selected control channelbeam.

In FIG. 14, mB may sweep some or all the control channel beams in asubframe. For example a (e.g., one or more, or each) subframe may carrythe control channel beam B1, B2, B3, and/or B4. A (e.g., one or more, oreach) control channel beam may carry DCI for one or more WTRUs. WTRUswith lower SNR may have their DCIs repeated in certain (e.g., all)control channel beams. WTRUs with higher SNR may have their DCIstransmitted in a subset of control channel beams. The mapping betweenthe control channel beam and the control symbol may be fixed. BRS for acontrol channel beam (e.g., rather than and/or in addition to controlchannels) may be swept.

In FIG. 15, the control channel beam may be predefined to symbolmapping, e.g., to reduce the blind decoding attempts for the WTRUs. TheWTRUs may attempt to decode the symbols (e.g., only the symbols)carrying pre-selected control channel beams. mB may map/place/transmitdata channel beams in some control channel symbols, e.g., controlchannel symbols that may or might not be occupied by control channelbeams. The WTRUs may start to buffer the symbols, e.g., for a possibledata channel until it decodes the pre-selected control channel beam atthe appropriate control symbol.

In FIG. 16, many to one mapping may be utilized for control channel beamto control symbol mapping to reduce control overhead, e.g., when thenumber of control channel beams are high in a cell. In FIG. 16, B1and/or B5 may be mapped to symbol 1. B1 and/or B5 may be transmitted incontrol symbol 1, e.g., when the assumption is that one RF chain may befor the mB. WTRUs having B1 control channel beam may be used (e.g.,required) to decode control symbol 1. A hashing function may be used,e.g., to reduce blocking probability for control channel beams. Thehashing function may avoid mapping the same set of control channel beamsto the same control symbol. The hashing may be a function of one or moreof the following: subframe number, system frame number, control channelbeam ID, cell ID, the control symbol number, and/or the like.

FIG. 17 is an example of a logical architecture for control channel beamgeneration. FIG. 17 illustrates an example of the relation between thedifferent mapping/selection functions.

A mmW PDCCH may use heterogeneous beam types. For WTRU specific controlchannel, wide beams may be configured and/or assigned for a group ofusers and/or one or more, or all, the users' control channels, e.g.,PDCCHs that may carry user specific DL control information (DCI). One ormore narrow beams may be configured and/or assigned for individual WTRUfor WTRU-specific control channels. One or more beams may be configured,e.g., such that wide beam(s) may be used to cover a cluster of WTRUsand/or narrow beam(s) may be used for individual WTRUs. Table 2 is anexample of some assignments and/or configurations for heterogeneous beamtypes. For common control channel, wide beam may be used for individualWTRU and/or a WTRU group. Narrow beam may be used for individual WTRU(e.g., individual WTRU only). Narrow beam may be used as WTRU-specificbeam for common control, e.g., depending on the beam configurations.Wide beams (e.g., only wide beams) may be used for a group of WTRUs forcommon control. For WTRU-specific control channel, narrow beam may beused as WTRU-specific beam for WTRU-specific control. Wide beam (e.g.,only wide beams) may be used for a group of WTRUs for WTRU-specificcontrol.

TABLE 2 Examples for Assignments and/or Configurations for HeterogeneousBeam Types Wide beam Narrow beam Common Control Individual May use widebeam for May use narrow beam for WTRU easy tracking of WTRUs, highbeamforming gain. etc. WTRU-specific narrow WTRU-specific wide beam beamfor common control. for common control. WTRU group May use wide beam forMay or might not use WTRU group narrow beam WTRU-specific Individual Mayuse wide beam for May or might not use Control WTRU easy tracking ofWTRUs, narrow beam for high etc. beamforming gain. WTRU-specific widebeam WTRU-specific narrow for WTRU-specific control. beam forWTRU-specific control. WTRU group May use wide beam for May or might notuse WTRU group narrow beam

A wide beam may be configured and/or used as a WTRU-specific beam forcontrol channels, e.g., to enable easy tracking of WTRUs. The controlchannels may be common control channels. The control channels may beWTRU-specific control channels, e.g., common DCI carried by PDCCH,and/or ePDCCH, and/or the like. This may enable easy tracking of WTRUs.This may sometimes lower beamforming gain. Easy tracking of WTRUs may beuseful. Easy tracking of WTRUs may be useful where beamforming gain maybe less of a concern. Beamforming gain may be less of a concern whenWTRUs are near the eNB and/or AP. Narrow beam(s) may be configuredand/or used (e.g., only used) as WTRU-specific beam(s) for controlchannels, e.g., to enable high beamforming gain. High beamperforminggain may be useful, e.g., when WTRUs are far away from eNB and/or AP.High beamperforming gain may be useful, e.g., when WTRUs are around thecell edge. The control channels may be common and/or WTRU-specificcontrol channels. The WTRU-specific control channels may beWTRU-specific DCI carried by PDCCH, and/or ePDCCH, and/or the like.

Beams with different beam widths may be used to cover different WTRUdensities (e.g., the number of WTRUs in a given direction/area relativeto the mB). The pairing for which beam with certain width to cover whichWTRU density may depend on the density distribution of WTRUs ingeography. For example, for high density area, beams with narrower beamwidth may be configured and/or used. For low density area, beams withmedium and/or larger beamwidth may be configured and/or used.

Beams may be allocated to WTRUs, e.g., such that WTRU density per beam(e.g., number of WTRUs in a beam) may be uniform and/or constant. Thismay facilitate the use of digital beamforming within analog beam, e.g.,to support a given number of active WTRUs. The number of analog beamsmay be reduced. The control overhead may be mitigated, e.g., whenmultiple control channels may be sent simultaneously in the same beamand/or frequency resource. Trade-off may occur between the number ofOFDM symbols (e.g., for beam sweeping) for control and/or the number ofOFDM symbols for data. Different compromises between overhead andthroughput may be considered based on the specific deployment scenario.

Heterogeneous beam types with different beam widths may be configuredand/or used, e.g., to improve network operation flexibility and/or toreduce the control overhead.

Heterogeneous beam types may support one or more of the following:heterogeneous beam types with different beam widths for common and/orWTRU specific channel, heterogeneous beam types with different beamwidths for the same WTRU at different time instance, heterogeneous beamtypes with different beam widths for different WTRUs, and/orheterogeneous beam types with different beam widths for group of WTRUsdepending on WTRU's locations, and/or the like. The heterogeneous beamtypes with different beam widths may be configured and/or used forcommon control and/or WTRU-specific control channel. Heterogeneous beamtypes with different beam widths may be configured and/or used for thesame WTRUs at different time instance. Heterogeneous beam types withdifferent beam widths may be configured and/or used for different WTRUsat the same and/or different time instances. Heterogeneous beam typeswith different beam widths may be configured and/or used for a group ofWTRUs, e.g., a group of WTRUs with various WTRU's locations. The controloverhead, e.g, the number of OFDM symbols for control with respect tothe number of OFDM symbols for data and/or the number of beams neededfor beam sweeping with respect to number of OFDM symbols for data, maybe reduced.

One or more of the following beam configurations may be considered,e.g., when one RF chain and/or a (e.g., one) beam are formed at a (e.g.,any) given time.

A beam sweeping may use homogeneous beam type (e.g., homogeneous widebeam). A (e.g., one or more, or each) beam may have the same beam widthcovering 360/N degrees where N is the number of OFDM symbols for controlchannel. For example, one or more, or each, beam will cover 120 degreesat a time for N=3. A beam sweeping cycle may cover 360 degrees.Homogeneous beam type may be for uniform angular distribution of WTRUs.Homogeneous beam type may become less efficient, e.g, for non-uniformangular distribution of WTRUs,

Heterogeneous beam type may be efficient, e.g., for non-uniform angulardistribution of WTRUs. A beam sweeping may use heterogeneous beam type(e.g., heterogeneous wide beam). One or more, or each beam may havedifferent beam width but still covering 360/N degrees where N is thenumber of OFDM symbols for control channel. One or more, or each beammay cover more or less than 120 degrees at a time and/or full beamsweeping cycle will cover 360 degrees. For example, for N=3 beams mayhave beam widths 60, 120 and/or 180 degrees. An eNB may keep the numberof WTRUs per beam uniform and/or constant when it transmits controlchannel to a (e.g., one or more, or each) WTRU. Uniform search space forcontrol channel may be maintained. Search space may avoid beingover-utilized for some beams and/or under-utilized for other beams.

The number of WTRUs per beam may be kept constant and/or near constant,e.g., when two or more RF chains are utilized for hybrid beamforming.Within a beam (e.g., one or more, or each beam) the number of ranks forspatial multiplexing may be limited. Keeping number of WTRUs under suchrank per beam may be performed to enable spatial multiplexing for futureevolution.

Beam sweeping may use narrow beams. A beam may have narrow beam widthbut cover WTRUs within N OFDM symbols for control channel. For example,one or more, or each beam may have narrow beam width but cover one ormore, or all WTRUs within N OFDM symbols for control channel. One ormore, or each beam may cover a WTRU at a time and/or a full beamsweeping cycle may cover N WTRUs. For K WTRUs, if N>=K, one beamsweeping cycle may deliver control channel to K WTRUs within a TTI. IfN<K, one beam sweeping cycle may or might not deliver one or more, orall control channels to one or more, or all K WTRUs within a TTI.Another TTI and/or TTIs may be used (e.g., required) to deliver controlchannel to remaining K-N WTRUs. How many TTIs may be used (e.g.,required) for beam sweeping may depend on N and/or K. K/N beam sweepingcycles and/or TTIs may be required to deliver one or more, or allcontrol channel to all K WTRUs. This example may work for N>=K. Thisexample may become less efficient when N<K. Overhead may increase, e.g.,when the number of OFDM symbols for control increases. The number ofWTRUs that may be supported may be limited, e.g., when the number ofusers and/or K decreases. Beam sweeping may be performed across multipleTTI, introducing latency (e.g., additional latency).

Beam sweeping may use heterogeneous beam type (e.g., heterogeneouswide/narrow beams). A beam may have a wide and/or narrow beam width butcover WTRUs within N OFDM symbols for control channel. For example, oneor more, or each beam may have one or more, or each wide and/or narrowbeam width but cover one or more, or all WTRUs within N OFDM symbols forcontrol channel. One or more, or each beam may cover one or more WTRUsat a time and/or full beam sweeping cycle will cover N WTRUs. For KWTRUs, if N>=K, one beam sweeping cycle may deliver control channel to KWTRUs within a TTI. If N<K, one beam sweeping cycle may deliver one ormore, or all control channels to one or more, or all K WTRUs within aTTI. For example, N−1 narrow beams may deliver control to N−1 WTRUs,and/or the last beam (wide beam) may deliver control to the remainingK-N+1 WTRUs. Another TTI and/or TTIs may or might not be used (e.g.,required) to deliver control channel to remaining K-N WTRUs. How manynarrow beams and/or wide beams may be used (e.g., required) may dependon design considerations and/or N and/or K. Using heterogeneous beamtype may lower control overhead, lower latency, and/or increase thenumber of WTRUs that may be supported.

Heterogeneous beams may be considered. Heterogeneous beams may be splurality of beams associated with one or more different characteristicsand/or properties, e.g., beam width, transmit power, number of lobes,and/or number of active antenna elements, and/or the like. Beams withdifferent beam widths and/or narrow beam may be used for the same celland/or eNB. A narrow beam carrying control information and/or PDCCH maybe used for individual WTRUs. Wide beams may be used for a group ofcontrol channels and/or PDCCHs. Heterogeneous beam types, e.g., wideand/or narrow beams, may be used. Heterogeneous beam widths for widebeam may be used. Different beam types and/or beam widths may be used,e.g., when beam sweeping is needed. For example, for three beams, beams1, 2 and/or 3 may have beam width x, y and/or z respectively. Foruniform settings beams 1, 2 and/or 3 may have beamwidth, x=y=z. Fornon-uniform settings x, y and/or z may or might not equal to each other.Depending on the settings of x, y and/or z, wide beam with differentbeam widths and/or narrow beam may be configured and/or formed.

To support beamforming reference signal (BRS), antenna ports may bedesigned to transmit BRS. Beam-specific antenna ports may be designedand/or allocated. Antenna port may be designed for beams that may beused for sending either common control and/or WTRU-specific controlinformation. An antenna port may be associated with a reference signalcalled BRS. A BRS may be used to demodulate control channels. Antennaports may be orthogonal to each other in time, frequency, code and/orany combination of them, e.g., to avoid mutual interferences among BRS.A design may use even/odd pattern for BRS. Even and/or odd BRS may beallocated in different frequency and/or time grid(s). Even BRS (E-BRS)may be placed in the same frequency and/or time grid(s). Odd BRS (O-BRS)may be placed in the same frequency and/or time grid(s). E-BRS and/orO-BRS may be allocated in different resources, e.g, resources that areorthogonal to each other. For control channel, control beam RS (CBRS)may be used. Even CBRS (E-CBRS) may be placed in the same frequencyand/or time grid(s). Odd CBRS (O-CBRS) may be placed in the samefrequency and/or time grid(s). E-CBRS and/or O-CBRS may be allocated indifferent resources, e.g., resources that are orthogonal to each other.For data channel, data BRS may be used.

In even beam, EAP may send E-CBRS for control channel. In odd beam OAPmay send O-CBRS for control. EAP and/or OAP may be in orthogonalresources. E-CBRS and/or O-CBRS may be in orthogonal resources. Mutualinterference between EAP and/or OAP or between E-CBRS and/or O-CBRS maybe avoided.

One or more (e.g., only one) BRS (e.g., rather than and/or in additionto two BRS (E-CBRS, O-CBRS)) may be used. A (e.g., perfect) spatialseparation may be achieved, e.g., to make one BRS more efficient thanother designs. A BRS in even beam and/or E-CBRS may be active forcontrol channel. BRS in odd beam and/or O-CBRS may or might not beactive for control channel. BRS in odd beam and/or O-CBRS may be reusedfor data. O-CBRS may be active for control and/or E-CBRS may or mightnot be active for control. E-CBRS may be reused for data. CBRS in evenand/or odd beam may or might not be reused for data, e.g, when perfectspatial separation may or might not be achieved. Side lobes of beams maybe related to spatial separation. For example, side lobes of beams mayprevent perfect spatial separation. Antenna patterns may be consideredwhen designing antenna ports for BRS and/or CBRS. Side lobes may beconsidered when designing antenna ports for BRS and/or CBRS. Antennaports and/or BRS design for data beam may be similar.

Spatial separation and/or resource reuse factor may be related to theefficiency of the channel design. For example, E-CBRS and/or O-CBRS mayavoid mutual interferences between them, when resource reuse factor oftwo is considered. Resource reuse factor of two may be consideredefficient. Resource reuse factor Q=1 may be considered, e.g., whenperfect spatial separation is achievable. Reuse factor Q may be set totwo or higher, e.g. when perfect spatial separation may or might not beachieved. Reuse factor may be set to one, e.g., for sequential beamsweeping for control channel. Resource reuse factor may be set to two orhigher, e.g., for parallel beam sweeping and/or transmission. Parallelbeam sweeping and/or transmission may occur, e.g., when two or morebeams transmitted in parallel simultaneously sweep through K WTRUs via NOFDM symbols for control. During parallel beam transmission, potentialmutual interferences between beams may occur, e.g., when spatialseparation is not perfect. Resource reuse factor may be set to two orhigher.

For multi-layer beamforming, e.g., when wide beam and/or narrow beam maycoexist, some offset in frequency/time grids may be applied to enableorthogonality between BRS for wide and/or narrow beams. Narrow beam mayserve one WTRU among a WTRU group while a wide beam may serve theremaining WTRUs in the WTRU group, e.g., when they may (e.g., must) beserved simultaneously, two (e.g., only two) beams are available, and/orthe two beams may comprise a wide beam and/or a narrow beam. The narrowbeam and/or wide beam may overlap. Narrow beam and/or wide beam may useFDM to enable coexistence, e.g., when spatial separation between themdoes not occur. BRS using FDM may be applied for narrow beam and/or widebeam.

One or more techniques associated with BRS may be applied to data BRSand/or control BRS. Control channel may be decoded. For example, channelestimation may be performed via CBRS to decode control channel.

Energy detection may be used for channel estimation and/or controlchannel demodulation, e.g., in even beam. For example, in even beam,E-CBRS may be on and/or O-CBRS may be off. No beam index may be decodedbeforehand. Energy detection may be used to decide which antenna port tobe used for channel estimation to decode control channel.

Channel estimation may be performed to decode data channel, e.g, wheneven/odd BRS is used. Beam index may already be decoded in controlchannel. Even/odd beam index may be obtained by one or more of thefollowing. In even beam, even DBRS may be on, odd DBRS may be off, e.g.,to avoid mutual interference between BRS at beam edge. Energy detectionmay be used to decide which antenna port may be used for channelestimation. It is similar for odd beam. In even beam, even DBRS may beon, odd DBRS may be on but may be used for data, redundant data may befor control and/or carry some short control message. Mutual interferencebetween RS and/or data/else at beam edge may occur. It is similar forodd beam.

The WTRU may or might not be dependent on blind energy detection. TheWTRU may decide between even/odd DBRS, perhaps for example even if aWTRU may or might not detect correct energy level. There may be anassumption that data demodulation may be performed after control channeldecoding. One or more beam index may be (e.g., already) obtained in thecontrol channel decoding.

A (e.g., one or more, or each) cell may have plurality of PDCCH regions,e.g. one for one or more, or each wide beam. A (e.g., one or more, oreach) PDCCH may carry beam specific BRS sequence. The BRS REs mapping inthe control channel symbols may be a function of PCI. The BRS REsmapping in the control channel symbols may be a function of beam index.The sequence carried in the BRS may be provided by the linked PBCH.

WTRUs may monitor PDCCH. WTRUs may detect BRS associated with theserving beam at control symbol location. The control symbol location maybe fixed. WTRUs may perform BRS detection operation in certain (e.g.,one or more, or all) control symbols defined by cell PCFICH, e.g., whenthe control symbol locations are not fixed and/or variable. WTRUs mayperform BRS detection operation in the control symbols (e.g., only thecontrol symbols) defined by beam-specific PCFICH. e.g., perhaps when thecontrol symbol locations might not be fixed and/or variable. WTRUs maycompare the measured BRSRP with an implementation dependent threshold.WTRUs may perform PDCCH decoding, e.g., when BRSRP is greater than thethreshold. WTRUs may assume no DL/UL grant received in the current TTI,e.g., perhaps unless a semi-static grant is configured.

Subframe structure and/or placement for PDCCH BRS may be designed. Forsequential beam sweeping, FIG. 18 may be an example subframe structureand/or placement for control BRS. The resources may be indicated in theFIG. 18. Example subframe in FIG. 18 shows three control symbolsfollowed by some data symbols. Beams may be swept through three controlsymbols sequentially by the order of beams 1, 2 and/or 3 (e.g., B1, B2and/or B3).

FIG. 19 may be an example resource allocation in two dimension offrequency and/or time. BRS may be used in a (e.g., one or more, or each)control symbol and/or may be placed uniformly (and/or non-uniformly)across frequency. FIG. 19 shows that BRS may have the same location infrequency across one or more, or all control symbols. Other allocationsmay be used, e.g., BRS may be in different locations in frequency acrossdifferent control symbols. BRS may be in staggered patterns and/ordesigns.

FIG. 20 may be an example control BRS subframe structure and/orplacement for parallel beam sweeping. The resources are also indicatedin the block diagram. Example subframe in FIG. 20 shows three controlsymbols followed by some data symbols. One or more beams may be sweptthrough three control symbols sequentially by the order of beams 1&2,3&4 and/or 5&6 (e.g., B1/B2, B3/B4 and/or B5/B6). Parallel beams may beused in a control symbol. Two parallel beams may be used simultaneouslyin a control symbol. For example, total six beams may be be sweptthrough three control symbols. The number of users to be covered by thecontrol channel may increase by using parallel beam transmission and/orsweeping. The capacity of system may increase.

FIG. 21 may be an example resource allocation in two dimension offrequency and/or time. BRS may be used in a control symbol and/or may beplaced uniformly (and/or non-uniformly) across frequency. BRS may alsobe placed contiguously and/or non-contiguously. For example, O-BRSand/or E-BRS may be placed contiguously within a pair of O-BRS/E-BRS.Pairs of O-BRS/E-BRS may be placed uniformly and/or non-uniformly acrossfrequency. O-BRS and/or E-BRS may be placed non-contiguously within apair of O-BRS/E-BRS. Pairs of O-BRS/E-BRS may be placed uniformly and/ornon-uniformly across frequency. Example may show that O-BRS/E-BRS pairshave the same location in frequency across one or more, or all controlsymbols. Other allocations may also be used, e.g. when BRS may be indifferent locations in frequency across different control symbols. A BRSmay be in staggered patterns and/or designs.

Designs of mmW PCFICH may comprise, e.g., cell specific control regionand/or beam specific control region. In a subframe, one or morebeamformed control channel(s) may be transmitted during one or morecontrol symbol(s) time multiplexed within a control region. The overallcontrol region size/length/duration may be a function of one or more ofthe following: the number of control channel beams selected fortransmission, the number of control symbols occupied by a (e.g., one ormore, or each) control channel beam, a pre-defined maxsize/length/duration of beam specific control region, and/or apre-defined max size/length/duration of cell specific control region,and/or the like.

The number of control channel beams and/or maximum number of controlchannel beams in a subframe may be fixed. The number of control channelbeams may be less than or equal to the total number of control channelbeams in the cell coverage. The number of control symbols may be afunction of the number of control channel beams and/or the number ofsymbols per control channel beam. The number of control symbols and/orthe maximum number of control symbols in a subframe may be fixed. Thepartial sweep function and/or a control channel beam subset selectionfunction may select control channel beams based on one or more of thefollowing: the number of control symbols in a subframe, and/or thenumber of control symbols per control channel beam, and the like. Theratio of control symbols to data symbols may be configured to be lessthan or equal to a pre-defined value (e.g. control overhead percentage).The number of control symbols per control channel beam may be a functionof number of WTRUs within the control channel beam and/or type of thecontrol channel beam (e.g. common control beam and/or WTRU specificcontrol beam).

At least a part of the control region may be one part of a number ofparts of the control region. The number of parts of the control regionmay be a function of a number of symbols configured for the controlregion. The number of parts of the control region may be a function of anumber of symbols used for the control region.

Cell specific control region configuration may be indicated. WTRUs mayreceive indication and/or configuration of cell specific control regionfrom broadcast channel(s) (e.g., MIB, SIB-x) and/or any other commonchannel. The configuration may be WTRU specific. The configuration maybe signaled using dedicated signaling (e.g. MAC and/or RRC message). Aphysical channel/signal (e.g., cell PCFICH) may be defined. A physicalchannel/signal may carry the configuration, e.g., for cell specificcontrol region. A new physical channel/signal may be placed in one ormore pre-defined symbol(s) in a subframe. Cell PCFICH may be transmittedwith an Omni-beam and/or wide beam. Cell PCFICH may be transmitted witha narrow beam. Cell PCFICH may comprise two or more repetitions in widebeams. Cell PCFICH may comprise two or more repetitions in narrow beams.WTRUs may accumulate the energy from cell PCFICH repetitions to increaseSNR. Cell PCFICH may be repeated in different directions, e.g., whentransmitted using wide and/or narrow beam to provide coverage. CellPCFICH may be repeated in different beam widths, e.g., when transmittedusing wide and/or narrow beam to provide coverage. The beam used forcell PCFICH may be same as the beam used for one or more ofsynchronization channels (PSS and/or SSS and/or any other signal). Thebeam used for cell PCFICH may be the same as the beam used for PBCH. Oneor more WTRUs may determine the location of the cell PCFICH symbol byapplying a pre-defined offset from symbol carrying PSS in the same beam.

At least one DL control channel may be communicated via one or moreOrthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. The one ormore OFDM symbols on which the at least one DL control channel may becommunicated may be located in the control region. A WTRU may obtain anumber of the one or more OFDM symbols in the control region via aPhysical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH). In some scenariosthe PCFICH may be obtained via a beam of a synchronization channeland/or via a beam of a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH).

WTRUs may determine the location of the cell PCFICH symbol by applying apre-defined offset from symbol carrying SSS in the same beam. One ormore WTRUs may determine the location of the cell PCFICH symbol byapplying a pre-defined offset from symbol carrying PBCH in the samebeam. The linkage (e.g., a pre-defined offset between two channel/beams)may be used to determine time and/or frequency location of achannel/beam when the time and/or frequency location of anotherchannel/beam Cell PCFICH may be included in a subframe (e.g., everysubframe). The linkage (e.g., a pre-defined offset between twochannel/beams) may be used to determine time and/or frequency locationof a channel/beam when the time and/or frequency location of anotherchannel/beam Cell PCFICH may be included in n subframes and/or subframe(e.g., every n subframes and/or every subframe). Cell PCFICH may betransmitted in pre-defined locations within a subframe, e.g., first fewsymbols of a subframe.

At least one search space corresponding to at least one reference signalmay be monitored for at least one data channel, perhaps for example uponthe detection of the at least one reference signal. The at least onesearch space may have a duration. A time location of the at least onedata channel may be determined, perhaps for example based on the atleast one reference signal, or the duration.

The cell specific control region size may be fixed. The cell specificcontrol region size may indicate the maximum size/length/duration of thecell specific control region. The cell specific control region size maybe semi-static. The cell specific control region size may indicate thesize/length/duration of the cell specific control region for nsubframes. n may be greater than or equal to the periodicity ofcorresponding MIB/SIB-x and/or other common channels (e.g., any othercommon channel). The cell specific control region size may be a greaterthan or equal to the sum of beam specific control region size of certain(e.g., one or more, or all) control channel beams transmitted in thatsubframe. Cell specific control region size may be equal to the productof max beam specific control region size and/or max number of controlchannel beams in a subframe. The max beam specific control region sizeand/or max number of control channel beams in a subframe may bepre-defined in the standard. The max beam specific control region sizeand/or max number of control channel beams in a subframe may beconfigured in common/broadcast channels. One or more symbols within thecontrol region may carry data channels, e.g., when the cell specificcontrol region size is greater than the sum of beam specific controlregion size of certain (e.g., one or more, or all) of the controlchannel beams transmitted in that subframe. WTRUs may receive more thanone configuration for cell specific control region. For example oneconfiguration may apply for subframes with flexible mapping. Oneconfiguration may apply for subframes with fixed mapping.

One or more WTRUs may receive configuration for flexible mapping (e.g.,only for flexible mapping), and/or WTRUs may apply a pre-definedconfiguration (e.g. fixed and/or max length for cell specific controlregion) for fixed mapping. A configuration may apply for common controlchannels, and/or a configuration for WTRU specific control channel. Thecell specific control region configuration, for example cell PCFICH, maybe dynamic. The cell specific control region configuration, for examplecell PCFICH, may vary for a (e.g., every) subframe. Cell PCFICH mayindicate presence of common control region within a subframe. CellPCFICH may indicate the end and/or start of common control region withina subframe. WTRUs may assume that the rest of the control region notoccupied by common control region may be dedicated control region.

Cell specific control region configuration may have contents. Theconfiguration may include and/or identify the length of the cellspecific control region size/duration/period. The length may beexpressed in one or more of the following: a number of subframes,timeslots, and/or OFDM symbols, and/or the like. One or more WTRUs mayassume the start of a cell specific control region as the first symbolin a subframe. WTRUs may receive explicit indication of the first and/orlast symbol of the cell specific control region. The value transmittedin the cell specific control region configuration may be a logicalvalue. The value transmitted in the cell specific control regionconfiguration may have a pre-defined mapping to the actualduration/length/period of the cell specific control region. A WTRU mayuse the indications of a cell specific control region configuration tocalculate and/or determine the end of the cell specific control region.A WTRU may use the indications of a cell specific control regionconfiguration to calculate and/or determine start of the data region.The configuration may include/identify number of control channel beamstransmitted in a subframe (e.g., in the current subframe and/or in nsubsequent subframes and/or in some or all subframes). The configurationmay include/identify the type of mapping applied for control channelbeams (e.g., fixed and/or flexible mapping). The configuration mayinclude beam identification (e.g., RS sequence ID, antenna port number,and/or control channel number) of certain (e.g., one or more, or all)control channel beams transmitted in a subframe. The subframe may be thecurrent subframe, n subsequent subframes, and/or certain (e.g., one ormore, or all) subframes.

Beam specific control region configuration may be indicated. One or moreWTRUs may receive indication and/or configuration for beam specificcontrol region size from broadcast channel(s) (e.g., MIB, SIB-x). WTRUsmay receive indication and/or configuration for beam specific controlregion size from any other common channel/signal. Beam specific controlregion size/length/duration may be pre-defined as a constant value. Theconstant value may be treated as a max value. Different beams in a cellmay have different beam specific control region configurations. Beamspecific control region size/length/duration may be semi-static. Beamspecific control region configuration may vary for different beams inthe cell. For example, common control channel beams may have aconfiguration different from the configuration for the WTRU specificcontrol channel beams. Beam specific control region configuration forcommon control channel may be fixed and/or semi-static. Beam specificcontrol region configuration for WTRU specific control channel beams maybe dynamic.

The configuration may be WTRU specific and/or beam specific. Theconfiguration may be signaled using dedicated signaling (e.g. MAC and/orRRC message). In the absence of dedicated signaling, WTRUs may apply theconfiguration in MIB/SIB-x and/or a pre-defined value. A physicalchannel/signal (for example beam PCFICH) may be defined. The physicalchannel/signal may carry the configuration for beam specific controlregion. A cell and/or mB may transmit multiple beam PCFICH in the samesubframe. A beam PCFICH may be transmitted with a specific beam patternand/or beam width. A beam PCFICH may carry the corresponding beamspecific control region configuration. Beam specific control regionconfiguration for a particular beam may vary across subframes. BeamPCFICH for a beam in a subframe may be transmitted conditionally basedon the presence of corresponding (e.g., beam with similar propertiesand/or characteristics) control channel beam in that subframe. BeamPCFICH transmission may be coupled with control channel beamtransmission. The control channel and/or the beam PCFICH, e.g., within abeam dwell time, may be transmitted. The beam used for beam PCFICH maybe same as the corresponding control channel for which the configurationmay be provided/signaled. Beam PCFICH may be time multiplexed (e.g.,different symbol and/or first few symbols in a PDCCH). Beam PCFICH maybe frequency multiplexed (e.g. CCEs, REs, and/or RBs) with the controlchannel transmission.

The mB may transmit certain (e.g., one or more, or all) the beam PCFICHsand/or transmit the control channel beams in certain order. The mB maymultiplex beam PCFICH and/or cell PCFICH and/or control channel, e.g.,when the cell PCFICH is transmitted with a wide and/or narrow beam. ThemB may multiplex beam PCFICH and/or cell PCFICH and/or control channel,e.g., when the cell PCFICH is transmitted with a wide and/or narrowbeam. The beam PCFICH may carry cell specific configuration and/or beamspecific control region configuration. Beam PCFICHs may be transmittedwith a different beam pattern from the beam pattern used by the controlchannel beams. A (e.g., one) beam PCFICH may carry the configurationsfor multiple control channel beams. WTRUs may determine the presence ofbeam PCFICH. For example, WTRUs may determine the presence of beamPCFICH indicated by a bit and/or bitmap in cell PCFICH. WTRUs maydetermine the presence of beam PCFICH indicated by a bit and/or bitmapfor a (e.g., one or more, or each) control beam in cell PCFICH.

Beam specific control region configuration may have contents. WTRUs maydetermine beam specific search space from the beam specific controlregion configuration. Beam specific control region configuration mayinclude one or more of the following: a (e.g., single) beam specificcontrol region size common for certain (e.g. one or more, or all) beams,a beam specific control region size for a (e.g., one or more, or each)beam separately, and/or a beam specific control region size as a groupof beams with similar control region size, and/or the like. Theconfiguration may include and/or identify the length of the beamspecific control region size/duration/period. The size may be expressedin one or more of the following: a number of subframes, timeslots,and/or OFDM symbols, and/or the like. One or more WTRUs may receiveexplicit indication of the first and/or last symbol of the beam specificcontrol region. The value transmitted in the beam specific controlregion configuration may be a logical value. The value transmitted inthe beam specific control region configuration may have a pre-definedmapping to the actual duration/length/period of the beam specificcontrol region. A WTRU may use the indications of a beam specificcontrol region configuration, e.g., to calculate and/or determine theend of the beam specific control region. A WTRU may use the indicationsof a beam specific control region configuration, e.g., to calculateand/or determine start of the data region.

The configuration may include/identify the number of control symbolscarrying the corresponding control channel beam in a subframe (e.g., inthe current subframe and/or in n subsequent subframes and/or in certain(e.g., one or more, or all subframes)). The configuration mayinclude/identify the type of mapping applied for a control channel beam(for example fixed and/or flexible). The configuration may also includebeam identification (e.g., RS sequence ID and/or antenna port numberand/or control channel number) of the corresponding control channel beamtransmitted in a subframe (for example in the current subframe and/or inn subsequent subframes and/or in all subframes).

WTRU monitoring may be performed in idle mode. The monitoring may selecta common control channel beam. WTRUs may or might not be involved inactive data transfer (e.g. in idle mode). WTRUs may be in idle mode,e.g. when selecting one or more common control channel beam(s) toperform monitoring. WTRUs may monitor one or more common control channelbeams. WTRUs may monitor one or more common control channel beams toreceive system information. WTRUs may monitor one or more common controlchannel beams to page messages. WTRUs may monitor one or more commoncontrol channel beams to perform coarse beam tracking/beam forming.WTRUs may monitor one or more common control channel beams to receivebeam training. WTRUs may select one or more common control channelbeam(s) for monitoring. WTRUs may perform measurements on beamformed RS.The RS may or might not be multiplexed with common control channel beamsfor beam evaluation purposes. Common control channel beams may bedetected/measured/identified by reference signals that are differentfrom WTRU specific beams. Certain (e.g., one or more, or all) commoncontrol channel beams may be associated with the same reference signalthat may be cell specific.

A (e.g., one more, or each) common control channel beam may beassociated with a different reference signal sequence. WTRU may selectcertain (e.g., one or more, or all) common control channel beams. WTRUmay select certain common control channel beams whose measured signalquality (e.g. RSRP, SNR, SINR, RSRQ, etc.) may be above a threshold.WTRUs may select a beam (e.g. the best) based on measured signal qualityfor monitoring purposes. WTRUs may perform signal quality measurementson a restricted set of subframes, e.g., subframes where PBCH and/or Syncchannels may be transmitted. WTRUs may perform signal qualitymeasurements on the subframes, e.g., where there is fixed and/orpre-defined mapping between control channel beams and/or controlsymbols.

WTRUs may receive an explicit and/or implicit linkage between Sync beamsand/or control channel beams, using heterogeneous control channel beams.One or more WTRUS may receive an explicit and/or implicit linkagebetween PBCH beams and/or control channel beams, using heterogeneouscontrol channel beams. WTRU's cell selection and/or reselection may bebased on the PBCH beams. One or more WTRUs' cell selection and/orreselection may be based on the sync beams. WTRUs may select controlchannel beams of certain type based on the linked serving PBCH toperform monitoring herein. WTRUs may select control channel beams ofcertain type based on the linked serving Sync beam type to performmonitoring herein. For example, a pre-configured offset may be definedbetween the PBCH/Sync beams and/or the corresponding control channel onthe same beam. The offset may be in terms of time (e.g., subframe,symbols) and/or frequency.

One or more WTRUs may determine the presence of control channel beam bysearching for PBCH on the same beam, e.g., at preconfigured locations inthe frame structure. WTRUs may detect the presence of a beam type usingthe beam specific reference signals. Beam specific reference signals maybe defined as a function of cell ID. One or more WTRUs may determine thecell ID from the discovery signal and/or the number of beams in the cellvia PBCH. WTRUs may determine the cell ID from the set of beam referencesignals associated to the cell. The beam reference signals may beassociated to the cell by a predefined function of cell ID and/or numberof beams. Beam specific reference signals may identify beam types and/orbeams. WTRUs may monitor the control channel beams associated with(e.g., belonging to) beams narrower than the current serving and/ordetected PBCH beam type.

Common control channel beam may have a search space. Control region in a(e.g., one or more, or each) serving cell and/or mB may comprise one ormore control symbols carrying one or more control channel beams. Controlregion of a (e.g., one or more, or each) control channel beam maycomprise one or more symbols, where the number of symbols may be eitherfixed and/or variable. Control region of a (e.g., one or more, or each)control channel beam may comprise one or more symbols, where the symbolsand/or symbol group (e.g., exact symbols and/or symbol group) may dependon the mapping function. Common search space may be a function of one ormore of the following: number of common control channel beamstransmitted by the mB, number of common control channels selected by theWTRU, beam specific control region size/duration, overall control regionduration, bandwidth of the cell, and/or aggregation level, and/or thelike. Within the symbols used for common control channel beam, frequencydomain mapping may be explicitly provided for control channel, e.g.,PDCCH candidates mapped to n number of carriers around the centerfrequency, even/odd RBs, hashing function, and/or any other pattern. Thecommon search space with beamformed control channels may be defined as aset of PDCCH candidates on one or more common control channel beams,e.g., determined by control channel beam selection function. On acontrol channel beam, one or more WTRUs may monitor the correspondingbeam specific control region for a set of PDCCH candidates defined byone or more aggregation levels.

FIG. 21 is an example of common control channel beam and/or associatedsearch space. WTRUs may perform monitoring. WTRUs may monitor theircommon search space in idle mode. WTRUs may perform the monitoring on aset of pre-defined subframes, e.g., where the mapping between the commoncontrol channel beams may be known and/or configured in terms of controlchannel beam IDs and/or symbol mapping. WTRUs may search certainsubframes (e.g., all subframes and/or preconfigured subframe(s)) forpresence of common control channel beams at symbol locations within thecontrol region. WTRUs may search the subframes by correlating a knownreference signal sequence (e.g., signal sequences which may be cellspecific and/or beam specific). Different reference signal sequences maybe defined for common control channel beams and/or WTRU specific controlchannel beams. A (e.g., one or more, or each) beam may have its ownreference signal sequence, perhaps within the common control channelbeams. Within the common control channel beams, one or more beams (e.g.,all beams) may use the cell specific sequence. The WTRU may monitor thecommon search space within the beam specific control region, e.g., whenthe received reference signal power may be above a threshold. Thereference signal sequence may be cell specific. Some or all of thecommon control channel beams in the cell may carry the same information.A WTRU may accumulate the energy received from some or all the commoncontrol channels to increase the SNR.

WTRUs may perform monitoring in connected mode. WTRU may performmonitoring in connected mode by assigning control channel beams. WTRUSmay monitor one or more control channel beams to receive controlinformation in connected mode. The control channel beams may be WTRUspecific control channel beams and/or cell specific common controlchannel beams. The set of control channel beams that the WTRU maymonitor may be referred to as serving control channel beams. One or moreWTRUs may be assigned one or more serving control channel beam(s). WTRUsmay consider some or all the control channel beams from the mB asserving control channels. WTRUs may consider the control channel beamsselected during idle mode operation, e.g., as WTRU specific controlchannel beams for connected mode operation. WTRUs may receive theserving control channel beam(s) configuration using dedicated signaling(e.g. L1 and/or MAC and/or RRC message). One or more WTRUs may monitorone or more serving control channels in the connected mode for one ormore of the following: UL and/or DL grants, Beam switch commands,handover commands, higher layer messages, and/or small payloads, and/orany other control information. One or more WTRUs may distinguish commoncontrol channel beams from the WTRU specific control channel beams bythe presence of pre-defined beam reference signals.

WTRUs may monitor cell specific common control channel beams to receivecommon channels (e.g., Paging and/or SIB) while in connected mode. WTRUsmay select common control channel beams autonomously. WTRUs may selectcommon control channel beams based on dedicated signaling (e.g. L1and/or MAC and/or RRC message) received in the serving control channel.WTRUs may monitor serving control channel beam for common channels (e.g.Paging and/or SIB). One or more WTRUs may select common control channelbeam(s) that are implicitly and/or explicitly linked to current servingcontrol channel beam(s).

WTRUs may have beam specific search space. Control region in a servingcell and/or mB may comprise one or more control symbols. Control symbolsmay carry one or more control channel beams. Control region of a (e.g.,one or more, or each) control channel beam may comprise one or moresymbols. For example, the number of symbols may be either fixed and/orvariable. The exact symbols and/or symbol group may depend on themapping function.

WTRU specific search space may be a function of one or more of thefollowing: the number of control channel beams transmitted by the mB,number of control channels selected by and/or assigned to the WTRUs,beam specific control region size/duration, overall control regionduration, bandwidth of the cell, aggregation levels, WTRU ID, subframenumber, and/or subframe, and/or the like. WTRU specific search space maybe defined as the union of beam specific search space of certain servingcontrol channel beams selected by/assigned to the WTRU. Beam specificsearch space may be defined as a set of PDCCH candidates in beamspecific control region. Beam specific control region may be defined asone or more control symbols and/or symbol groups used to transmit and/ormapped to the corresponding beam. Number of symbols per control channelbeam may be static, semi-static and/or dynamic. On a (e.g., one or more,or each) serving control channel beam, a WTRU may monitor thecorresponding beam specific control region for set of PDCCH candidatesdefined by one or more aggregation levels. Within the symbols used forcontrol channel beam, frequency domain mapping and/or restriction may beexplicitly and/or implicitly defined for PDCCH candidates (e.g. mappedto n number of carriers around the center frequency and/or even/odd RBsand/or a hashing function and/or any other pattern). WTRUs may beconfigured with different set of aggregation levels for differentcontrol channel beams. WTRU specific search space within a beam may be afunction of beam ID, WTRU ID, symbol number, subframe number etc.

FIG. 22 is an example for WTRU beam specific search space. WTRUs mayperform monitoring. WTRUs may monitor their WTRU specific search spacein connected mode. WTRUs may monitor common search space in connectedmode. WTRUs may perform conditional monitoring, e.g., based on thepresence of one or more serving control channel beams. One or more WTRUsmay search certain subframes and/or one or more preconfigured subframesfor the presence of WTRU specific control channel beam, by correlatingone or more of the following: pre-configured beam specific referencesignal sequence, cell specific reference signal sequence, and/or beamtype specific reference signal sequence in the control region, and/orthe like. One or more WTRUs may be configured with mapping betweencontrol channel beam and control symbol location. WTRUs may search for(e.g., only for) the configured control channel beams in a (e.g., one ormore, or each) symbol location. The WTRUs may monitor PDCCH candidateswithin the detected beam specific search space, e.g., when the receivedreference signal power is above a threshold.

WTRUs may monitor beam specific search space in some or all thesubframes and/or in the configured subframes where one or more servingcontrol channel beams may be transmitted. WTRUS may monitor commonsearch space in all or some of the subframes or in the configuredsubframes where one or more common control channel beams may betransmitted. For example, the control region in pre-configured subframesmay comprise one more (e.g. two) parts, one for common control channelbeams and/or the other for WTRU specific control channel beams, forexample. One or more WTRUs may monitor common search space in the commoncontrol region and/or WTRU specific and/or beam specific search space inthe dedicated control region.

WTRUs may perform monitoring using one or more techniques as describedherein. WTRUs may determine WTRU specific control channel beam and/orcommon control channel beam by doing one or more of the following. WTRUspecific control channel beam may be configured by the mB. WTRU specificcontrol channel beam may be selected during the cell selection. WTRUspecific control channel beam may be selected autonomously by the WTRUand/or indicated to the mB during the random access procedure. Commoncontrol channel beam may be selected by the WTRUs autonomously (e.g.linkage to PBCH/Sync beams). Common control channel beam may be selectedby the WTRUs implicitly linked to current serving control channel beams(e.g., many to one mapping between WTRU specific beams and commoncontrol channel beams). An mB may override the common control channelbeam for a WTRU in connected mode.

WTRUs may determine subframes to monitor, based on beam mapping functionthrough one or more of the following. WTRUs may be preconfigured (inMIB/SIB-x and/or dedicated signaling) with the beam to subframe mapping.WTRUS may monitor those (e.g., only those) subframes, e.g, where one ormore serving control channel beam and/or common control channel beamsmay be transmitted. WTRUs upon wake up from DRX mode may monitor those(e.g., only those) subframes, e.g., where the fixed mapping to theserving control beams may be pre-configured. WTRUs may assume and/or beconfigured a flexible mapping, e.g., any to any mapping between beamsand subframes, with a (e.g., one or more, or each) subframe containingmultiple control channel beams. One or more WTRUs may monitor certain(e.g. one or more, or all) the DL subframes for the serving controlchannel beams and/or common control channel beams. Upon wake up from DRXmode and/or receiving a valid allocation, WTRUs may continue monitoringcertain (e.g., one or more, or all) subframes for the serving controlchannel beams. WTRUs may monitor specific subframes for common controlchannel beam and/or certain (e.g., one or more, or all) subframes forWTRU specific control channel beams.

WTRUs may determine overall control region in a subframe. WTRUs maydetermine the overall control region size/duration in a subframe fromMIB/SIB-x. WTRUs may determine the overall control region size/durationin a subframe from a fixed parameter. WTRUs may determine the overallcontrol region size/duration in a subframe dynamically signaled via acell PCFICH.

WTRUs may determine beam specific search space by one or more of thefollowing. Within the overall control region, WTRUs may assume one ormore beam specific control region. For a (e.g., one or more, or each)monitored control channel beam, WTRUs may determine (e.g., firstdetermine) the presence of those control beams and/or starting symbolfor the control channel beams by explicit signaling in cell PCFICH. Formonitored control channel beams, WTRUs may determine the presence ofthose control beams and/or starting symbol for the control channel beamsby detecting beam specific BRS above a threshold. For monitored controlchannel beams, WTRUs may perform blind decoding, e.g., when a cellspecific BRS is used. WTRUs may assume no DCI received in that subframe,e.g, when BRS for certain (e.g., one or more, or all) serving controlchannel beams are below the threshold. WTRUs may identify the beamsbased on beam specific preambles added to a (e.g., one or more, or each)control symbol carrying the beam. The preambles may be a function of oneor more of the following: beam ID, cell ID, and/or WTRU ID, and/or thelike.

One or more WTRUs may utilize the measurements based on BRS to determinethe characteristics/property of the control channel beam, e.g., thepresence of a specific control channel type and/or beam, length of thecontrol channel beam etc. For certain (e.g., one or more, or all)detected control channel beams, WTRUs may determine the beam specificcontrol region size/duration and/or last symbol in the beam specificcontrol region from MIB/SIB-x. For certain (e.g., one or more, or all)detected control channel beams, WTRUs may determine the beam specificcontrol region size/duration and/or last symbol in the beam specificcontrol region from a fixed parameter. For certain (e.g., one or more,or all) detected control channel beams, WTRUs may determine the beamspecific control region size/duration and/or last symbol in the beamspecific control region may be dynamically signaled via beam PCFICH. Oneor more WTRUs may be (e.g., explicitly) provided with a fixed mappingbetween the control channel beam and the symbol location of the beamspecific control region. One or more WTRUs may be (e.g., explicitly)provided with a fixed mapping between the control channel beam and thesize/duration of the beam specific control region. An overall controlregion may be split into common control region and/or a dedicatedcontrol region.

Within a (e.g., one or more, or each) detected beam specific controlregion, one or more WTRUs may do one or more of the following. A WTRUmay apply the frequency and/or time domain restriction (e.g. central ncarriers and/or specific RBs and/or any other pattern and/or removenon-PDCCH channels (e.g. PHICH, beam PCIFICH, sync/PBCH if present).Within the beam specific search space, some (e.g., additional), WTRUspecific search space may be configured. For example, starting CCEs maybe different for different WTRUs (e.g. based on WTRU ID, beam type, beamID, subframe number, symbol number etc.). WTRUs may group the REGswithin a (e.g., one or more, or each) beam specific control region intoone set of CCEs. Within a (e.g., one or more, or each) set of CCEs,WTRUs may monitor one or more PDCCH candidates based on aggregationlevels configured for a (e.g., one or more, or each) beam type and/orbeam. DCI CRC may be scrambled with beam ID in addition to the WTRU ID(e.g. CRNTI) and/or common ID (e.g. SI_RNTI and/or Paging RNTI). WhenWTRU specific control channel beams, WTRU specific search space may besimplified (e.g., further simplified) by pre-configuring fixed startingCCEs, explicit indication of aggregation level used etc.

DL data may perform scheduling. WTRUs may, upon detection of PDCCH insome (e.g., at least one) of the serving control channel beams, indicateDL grant for data and/or some (e.g., any) other higher layer informationintended for the WTRUs. WTRUs may attempt to decode the correspondingdata channel beam in the resources indicated by the DCI. WTRUs mayassume that the serving control channel beam may be used for datatransmission, e.g., when no data beam specific identity is included inthe DCI message. WTRUs may assume the last indicated data channel beam,e.g, if no data beam specific identity is included in the DCI message.WTRUs may assume the data channel indicated by the higher layerconfiguration, e.g., if no data beam specific identity is included inthe DCI message. The scrambling initialization of the PDSCH may be afunction of one or more of the following: control channel beam ID thatcarries the allocation, beam ID of the DL data channel beam, WTRUspecific RNTI (e.g. C-RNTI and/or SPS-RNTI), a fixed RNTI (e.g. SI-RNTIand/or Paging RNTI), and/or beam type, and/or the like.

Sub-subframe scheduling may perform resource allocation by allowingmultiple allocation in a subframe. Beamforming may be used (e.g.,required) to compensate additional path loss at higher frequencies.Given the large bandwidths at higher frequencies and/or analogbeamforming, one or more WTRUs may be multiplexed with different beamswithin a subframe and/or scheduling interval. One or more controlchannels may be transmitted with wide beams. A (e.g., one or more, oreach) control channel beam may schedule one or more narrow data beamsfor one or more WTRUs within the same subframe.

Minimum schedulable time resource within a subframe may be symbol and/orgroup of symbols. Scheduling granularity may be less than a subframeand/or a scheduling interval. For example, a new (e.g., fresh and/orheretofore unused) DCI format may be defined to carry allocationinformation at symbol level/symbol group, to indicate a start offset(e.g., a symbol offset), repetition information (e.g. more than one datachannel per WTRU per subframe), and/or spatial information (e.g.transmit beam ID), and/or the like.

Within a subframe, the data region may comprise multiple data channelbeams multiplexed in time. For example, a data channel may occupyseveral symbols and/or the remaining symbols within the same subframemay be used by other data channel beams addressed to the same and/ordifferent WTRUs. WTRUs may be allocated multiple data channel resourceswithin the same subframe. A (e.g., one or more, or each) set of datachannel resources may be associated with a different data beam.

Downlink data beam that an mB may use for the WTRU may be identified.WTRUs may use a receive beam pattern for downlink data channelreception. WTRUs may use different receive beam pattern for downlinkcontrol channel beam reception compared to the receiving beam patternused for downlink data channel beam reception. An mB may comprise thetransmit beam ID corresponding to the data channel beam to enable WTRUto switch receive beam accordingly. One or more WTRUs may use (e.g.,require) gap and/or decoding period between the PDCCH carrying the grantand/or the actual data channel resource. Transmit beam ID may beimplicitly determined by the WTRU, e.g., when WTRU specific controlchannel beam is used, as the data beam may be same as the WTRU specificcontrol channel beam.

The data channel beam information may be coupled with resourceallocation information. For example the DCI may include transmit beamidentification in PDCCH that carries resource allocation in terms oftime (e.g. symbol, symbol group) and/or frequency (e.g. RBs). An mB mayexplicitly provide a gap and/or guard period between the last symbol ofPDCCH and the first symbol of PDSCH within the same subframe. The guardperiod may be defined from WTRU point of view. mB may use the symbols inthe guard period to schedule other WTRUs. WTRUs may assume (e.g., alwaysassume) an offset between PDCCH and PDSCH. For example PDCCH in subframen may allocate PDSCH in subframe n+k. The value of k may be dynamicand/or may be configured by higher layer signaling (MAC and/or RRC)and/or may be included in DCI message and/or may be a pre-definedconstant. WTRUs may assume k=0 for buffering the data in the currentsubframe. Depending on the value of k in the DCI, WTRUs may determinethe PDSCH location in the current subframe (if k=0 and/or not includedin DCI) and/or in subframe n+k (if k is included in the DCI).

At least one search space may include downlink control information(DCI). At least one data channel may be monitored, perhaps for examplebased at least in part on the DCI. At least one beam for receipt of theat least one data channel may be identified, perhaps for example basedat least in part on the DCI.

The data channel beam information and/or spatial information may beseparate from resource allocation (e.g. time, frequency, code)information. The spatial information (e.g., data channel transmit beamidentification) may be derived from beam specific reference signal forthe corresponding DL beam. The spatial information may be derived frombeam specific reference signal for the corresponding antenna port. Thespatial information may be derived from beam specific reference signalfor the corresponding steering vector and/or codebook index. The spatialinformation may be signaled using RRC configuration/MAC CE/DCI,decoupled from the time and/or frequency resource allocationinformation. The spatial information may be acknowledged by the WRTU toprevent mismatch between an mB and the WRTU, before actual datatransmission on the indicated data channel beam. The spatial informationand/or resource allocation information (e.g. time and/or frequency) mayhave a pre-defined and/or configured offset to the allocated resources.The spatial information may be associated with a validity period and/orupon expiry of the validity period. WRTUs may perform (e.g., be requiredto perform) one or more of beam measurement and/or beam tracking and/orbeam reporting (e.g. CSI).

The common channels may be scheduled using separate spatial information.The WTRU specific channels may be scheduled using the coupled spatialinformation. The common channels may be scheduled using coupled spatialinformation. The WTRU specific channels may be scheduled using theseparate spatial information. Different WTRUs in the same cell mayreceive the scheduling information using different configuration (e.g.coupled and/or separate).

DCI may have format and/or contents. Downlink control information for aDL data channel grant may be include one or more of the following:spatial information, time, and/or frequency resource information, and/orthe like. Spacial information may comprise one or more of the following:implicit data channel beam identity (e.g. associated Data channel RSsequence number, associated control channel RS sequence number and/or anindex in the WTRU measurement report) and/or an explicit data channel IDwhich may map to a specific data channel beam, UL control channel beamconfiguration associated with a DL transmission, and/or set of controlsymbols to monitor for serving control channel beam(s), and/or the like.Time and/or frequency resource information may comprise one or more ofthe following: the resource allocation information corresponding todownlink data channel beam indicated in the spatial information,Starting symbol location for PDSCH within the subframe, Duration (interms of number of symbols), Frequency/Resource Block information, anindex to a pre-configured symbol groups/resource groups in time and/orfrequency, and/or the like.

Spatial information may be signaled using L23 signaling (e.g. RRC and/orMAC CE) and/or L1 signaling (e.g. in a DCI). WTRUs may consider thespatial information to be valid after transmitting an ACK correspondingto the DL PDSCH carrying the spatial information. WTRUs may assume thatthe spatial information valid until they receive RRC/MAC CE/DCI with adifferent spatial information. Time and/or frequency resourceinformation may be signaled using L1 signaling (e.g. in a DCI). Thescheduling information in the time and/or frequency resource informationmay be valid for (e.g., only for) the subframe where the resourceinformation is received. Different DCI formats may be defined. Forexample, two different DCI formats may be defined, one with the timeand/or frequency resource information and/or the other with time and/orfrequency resource information and/or spatial information. A DCI formatmay contain the time and/or frequency resource information and/or theother(s) DCI format may contain the spatial information.

Beams may be combined for DL. Plurality of spatial information may besignaled to the WTRU using L23 signaling (e.g. RRC and/or MAC CE) and/orL1 signaling (e.g. in a DCI) for the downlink data transmission. The DCIand/or the L23 message may carry per spatial information, one or more ofthe following: symbol location, duration, resource block configuration,WTRU specific reference signal ID and/or beam ID, antenna port number,and/or HARQ information (e.g. redundancy version), and/or the like.Spatial information (e.g., one or more, or each spatial information) mayidentify the transmission direction and/or data channel beam to theWTRUs. WTRUs may receive a single transport block within a subframeand/or sequence of subframes multiplexed in time domain, using pluralityof spatial configuration (e.g. multiple data channel beams). WTRUs maysoft-combine the spatial repetitions of the transport block to improvethe effective SNR. WTRUs may use same and/or different receive antennaconfiguration and/or receive beam pattern corresponding to the downlinkspatial information signaled for beam combining.

UL data may be scheduled. WTRU upon detection of PDCCH in some (e.g., atleast one) of the serving control channel beams in subframe/subframe n,indicating UL grant intended for the WTRU, may transmit PUSCH insubframe/subframe n+k, using the UL data channel beam indicated in thePDCCH, WTRUs may assume that the current UL control channel beam may beused for UL data transmission, e.g., when no data channel beam identityis included in the DCI message. One or more WTRUs may assume the lastindicated UL data channel beam and/or the data channel indicated byhigher layer configuration for UL data transmission, e.g. when no datachannel beam identity is included in the DCI message. The scramblinginitialization of the PUSCH may be a function of control channel beam IDthat carries the allocation and/or beam ID of the UL data channel beamand/or WTRU specific RNTI (e.g. C-RNTI and/or SPS-RNTI) and/or beamtype.

Within a UL subframe, the data region may comprise multiple UL datachannel beams from one or more WTRUs multiplexed in time. For example, adata channel may occupy one or more symbols and/or the remaining symbolswithin the same subframe may be used by other UL data channel beamsaddressed to the same and/or different WTRUs. WTRUs may be allocatedmultiple UL data channel resources within the same subframe. A (e.g.,one or more, or each) set of UL data channel resources may be associatedwith a different UL data beam.

Uplink transmissions from multiple WTRUs within the same subframe and/orscheduling interval, may be multiplexed in time domain and/or frequencydomain. Scheduling granularity may be less than subframe and/orscheduling interval. A new DCI format may carry UL allocationinformation at symbol level/symbol group, start offset, repetitioninformation (e.g. more than one UL data channel per WTRU per subframe),spatial information (e.g. UL transmit beam ID).

One or more WTRUs may identify and/or signal the uplink data beam. Oneor more WTRUs may use a specific beam pattern for UL data channeltransmission. One or more WTRUs may use different transmit beam patternfor uplink control channel compared to the transmit beam pattern usedfor uplink data channel beam. An mB may include the transmit beam IDcorresponding to the UL data channel beam to enable WTRUs to switchtransmit beam accordingly. One or more WTRUs may use (e.g., require) gapand/or decoding period between the PDCCH carrying the UL grant and/orthe actual UL data channel resource.

The UL data channel beam information may be coupled with resourceallocation information. For example the DCI may include transmit beamidentification in PDCCH that carries resource allocation in terms oftime (e.g. symbol and/or symbol group) and/or frequency (e.g. RBs). AnmB may (e.g., explicitly) provide a gap and/or guard period between thelast symbol of PDCCH and the first symbol of PUSCH. The guard period maybe defined from WTRU point of view. An mB may use the symbols in theguard period to schedule other WTRUs. WTRUs may assume (e.g. alwaysassume) an offset between PDCCH and PUSCH. For example PDCCH in subframen may allocats PUSCH in subframe n+k. The value of k may be dynamicand/or may either be configured by higher layer signaling (MAC and/orRRC) and/or may be included in DCI message.

The UL data channel beam information and/or spatial information may beseparate from resource allocation (e.g., time, frequency, code)information. The spatial information, e.g. UL data channel transmit beamidentification, may be derived from SRS (e.g. SRS sequence ID and/or SRSconfiguration ID etc.), decoupled from the time and/or frequencyresource allocation information. The spatial information may be derivedrandom access procedure (preamble ID and/or subframe), decoupled fromthe time and/or frequency resource allocation information. The spatialinformation may be signaled using RRC configuration/MAC CE/DCI,decoupled from the time and/or frequency resource allocationinformation. The spatial information may be acknowledged by the WTRU toprevent mismatch between mB and the WTRU, e.g., before actual datatransmission on the indicated data channel beam. The spatial informationand resource allocation information (e.g. time and/or frequency) mayhave a pre-defined and/or configured offset to the allocated resources.The spatial information may be associated with a validity period. Forexample, upon expiry of the validity period, a WTRU may (e.g., berequired to) perform one or more of sounding procedure and/or RACH etc.

The UL control channel beam may be scheduled using separate spatialinformation. The UL data channel beam may be scheduled using the coupledspatial information. One or more WTRUs in the same cell may receive thescheduling information using different configuration (e.g., coupledand/or separate).

DCI may have formats and/or contents. Downlink control information for aUL data channel grant may include one or more of the following: spatialinformation, time resource information, and/or frequency resourceinformation, and/or the like. Spatial information may comprise one ormore of the following: implicit data channel beam identity, and/or DLPHICH beam configuration, and/or the like. Implicit data channel beamidentity may comprise one or more of the following: SRS sequence IDand/or SRS configuration ID etc., preamble ID, subframe and/or anexplicit data channel ID which may map to a specific data channel beam,and/or explicit ID negotiated with the WTRU, and/or the like. Timeand/or frequency resource information may comprise one or more of thefollowing: information that may indicate the resource allocationinformation corresponding to downlink data channel beam indicated in themost recent spatial information, starting symbol location for PUSCHwithin the subframe, duration (e.g., in terms of number of symbols),frequency/resource block information, and/or an index to apre-configured symbol groups/resource groups in time and/or frequency,and/or the like.

Spatial information may be signaled using Layer 2 and/or 3 (L23)signaling (e.g. RRC and/or MAC CE) and/or L1 signaling (e.g. in a DCI).A WTRU may consider the scheduling information received in the spatialinformation to be valid after transmitting an ACK corresponding to theDL PDSCH carrying the spatial information. The WTRU may assume that thespatial information valid perhaps until it receives RRC/MAC CE/DCI witha different spatial information, for example. Time and/or frequencyresource information may be signaled using L1 signaling (e.g. in a DCI).The scheduling information in the time and/or frequency resourceinformation may be valid for the subframe (e.g., only for the subframe)where the resource information is received.

Different DCI formats may be defined. One or more (e.g. two) differentDCI formats may be defined, perhaps one with the time and/or frequencyresource information and/or another other with time and/or frequencyresource information and/or spatial information. A DCI format maycontain the time and/or frequency resource information and/or the otherDCI format may contain the spatial information.

One or more beams may be combined for UL. A plurality of spatialinformation may be signaled to the WTRU using L23 signaling (e.g. RRCand/or MAC CE) and/or L1 signaling (e.g. in a DCI) for the uplink datatransmission. The DCI and/or the L23 message may carry per spatialinformation, one or more of the following: symbol location, duration,resource block configuration, WTRU specific reference signal ID and/orbeam ID and/or SRS configuration ID, antenna port number, and/or HARQinformation (e.g. redundancy version) and/or the like.

A (e.g., one or more, or each) spatial information may identify (e.g.,uniquely identify) the transmission direction and/or data channel beamfrom the WTRU. A WTRU may transmit a single transport block within asubframe and/or sequence of subframes multiplexed in time domain,perhaps for example using a plurality of spatial configuration (e.g.multiple data channel beams). An mB may soft-combine the spatialrepetitions of the transport block, e.g., to improve the effective SNR.An mB may use a same receiving antenna configuration and/or receivingbeam pattern corresponding to the uplink spatial information signaledfor beam combining. An mB may use different receiving antennaconfiguration and/or receiving beam pattern corresponding to the uplinkspatial information signaled for beam combining.

UL control channel information may be part of UL data scheduling. DCImay carry UL control channel information and/or the DL grant for datachannels. The UL control channel information may include the resourcesused for feedback (e.g. ACK/NACK and/or CSI etc.). An mB may dynamicallysignal the WTRU UL control beam for feedback using the DCI carrying thecorresponding DL resource allocation. One or more WTRUs may associatethe UL control channel resources allocated in a DCI to the DL datachannel allocation present in the same DCI. The UL control channelinformation may include time (e.g. subframe offset or symbol offset fromthe current subframe) and/or frequency resources (e.g. Resource blocks).The UL control channel information may include the spatial informationfor the UL control channel. For example, the UL control beam for theWTRU may be identified by SRS configuration ID and/or SRS sequenceand/or RACH identifier (RA-RNTI and/or preamble sequence number) used bythe WTRU for the periodic/aperiodic transmission of the corresponding ULcontrol channel beam.

A mB may pre-configure the mapping between DL control beam carrying theDL data allocation and the WTRU UL control beam carrying the feedback.The configuration may be WTRU specific. A mB may pre-configure themapping between DL transmit control beam carrying the DL data allocationand the mB UL Rx control beam resources to receive the feedback. Theconfiguration may provide WTRU specific resources within the mB UL Rxbeam (e.g. frequency/time/code). A mB may schedule the uplink controlbeam semi-statically using higher layer signaling. A mB may scheduledifferent uplink control beam for different feedback types (e.g.ACK/NACK vs CSI). In some or all the schemes discussed herein, a mB mayconfigure more than one UL WTRU control beam for feedback (e.g.repetition and/or implicit HARQ retransmission).

FIG. 24A is a diagram of an example communications system 100 in whichone or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communicationssystem 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, suchas voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wirelessusers. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless usersto access such content through the sharing of system resources,including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrierFDMA (SC-FDMA), and the like.

As shown in FIG. 24A, the communications system 100 may include wirelesstransmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and/or 102 d (whichgenerally or collectively may be referred to as WTRU 102), a radioaccess network (RAN) 103/104/105, a core network 106/107/109, a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and othernetworks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosedembodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks,and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 dmay be any type of device configured to operate and/or communicate in awireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c,102 d may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals andmay include user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobilesubscriber unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer,a wireless sensor, consumer electronics, and the like.

The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114 a anda base station 114 b. Each of the base stations 114 a, 114 b may be anytype of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one ofthe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d to facilitate access to one or morecommunication networks, such as the core network 106/107/109, theInternet 110, and/or the networks 112. By way of example, the basestations 114 a, 114 b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B,an eNode B, a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a site controller, an accesspoint (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114 b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciatedthat the base stations 114 a, 114 b may include any number ofinterconnected base stations and/or network elements.

The base station 114 a may be part of the RAN 103/104/105, which mayalso include other base stations and/or network elements (not shown),such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller(RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114 a and/or the base station114 b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signalswithin a particular geographic region, which may be referred to as acell (not shown). The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. Forexample, the cell associated with the base station 114 a may be dividedinto three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114 a mayinclude three transceivers, e.g., one for each sector of the cell. Inanother embodiment, the base station 114 a may employ multiple-inputmultiple output (MIMO) technology and, therefore, may utilize multipletransceivers for each sector of the cell.

The base stations 114 a, 114 b may communicate with one or more of theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d over an air interface 115/116/117,which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radiofrequency (RF), microwave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visiblelight, etc.). The air interface 115/116/117 may be established using anysuitable radio access technology (RAT).

More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may bea multiple access system and may employ one or more channel accessschemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. Forexample, the base station 114 a in the RAN 103/104/105 and the WTRUs 102a, 102 b, 102 c may implement a radio technology such as UniversalMobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA),which may establish the air interface 115/116/117 using wideband CDMA(WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-SpeedPacket Access (HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may includeHigh-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High-Speed UplinkPacket Access (HSUPA).

In another embodiment, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102b, 102 c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface115/116/117 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

In other embodiments, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,102 c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.16 (e.g.,Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000,CDMA2000 1×, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), InterimStandard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System forMobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

The base station 114 b in FIG. 24A may be a wireless router, Home NodeB, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize anysuitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area,such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, and the like.In one embodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d mayimplement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN). In another embodiment, the base station 114 band the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yetanother embodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 dmay utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE,LTE-A, etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 24A,the base station 114 b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110.Thus, the base station 114 b may or might not be used to access theInternet 110 via the core network 106/107/109.

The RAN 103/104/105 may be in communication with the core network106/107/109, which may be any type of network configured to providevoice, data, applications, and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP)services to one or more of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d. Forexample, the core network 106/107/109 may provide call control, billingservices, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling, Internetconnectivity, video distribution, etc., and/or perform high-levelsecurity functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown inFIG. 24A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 103/104/105 and/or thecore network 106/107/109 may be in direct or indirect communication withother RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 103/104/105 or adifferent RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN103/104/105, which may be utilizing an E-UTRA radio technology, the corenetwork 106/107/109 may also be in communication with another RAN (notshown) employing a GSM radio technology.

The core network 106/107/109 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110,and/or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switchedtelephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). TheInternet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computernetworks and devices that use common communication protocols, such asthe transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP)and the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite.The networks 112 may include wired or wireless communications networksowned and/or operated by other service providers. For example, thenetworks 112 may include another core network connected to one or moreRANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 103/104/105 or adifferent RAT.

One or more of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d in thecommunications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities, e.g., theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d may include multiple transceivers forcommunicating with different wireless networks over different wirelesslinks. For example, the WTRU 102 c shown in FIG. 24A may be configuredto communicate with the base station 114 a, which may employ acellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114 b, whichmay employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

FIG. 24B is a system diagram of an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG.24B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, atransmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, adisplay/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, apower source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, andother peripherals 138. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 mayinclude any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remainingconsistent with an embodiment. Also, embodiments contemplate that thebase stations 114 a and 114 b, and/or the nodes that base stations 114 aand 114 b may represent, such as but not limited to transceiver station(BTS), a Node-B, a site controller, an access point (AP), a home node-B,an evolved home node-B (eNodeB), a home evolved node-B (HeNB), a homeevolved node-B gateway, and proxy nodes, among others, may include oneor more of the elements depicted in FIG. 24B and described herein.

The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purposeprocessor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), aplurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in associationwith a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs)circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine,and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, dataprocessing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any otherfunctionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wirelessenvironment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120,which may be coupled to the transmit/receive element 122. While FIG. 24Bdepicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separatecomponents, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and thetransceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package orchip.

The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signalsto, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 115/116/117. For example, in one embodiment,the transmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna configured totransmit and/or receive RF signals. In another embodiment, thetransmit/receive element 122 may be an emitter/detector configured totransmit and/or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example.In yet another embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may beconfigured to transmit and receive both RF and light signals. It will beappreciated that the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured totransmit and/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

In addition, although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted inFIG. 24B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number oftransmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 mayemploy MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 mayinclude two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multipleantennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the airinterface 115/116/117.

The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that areto be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 122 and to demodulatethe signals that are received by the transmit/receive element 122. Asnoted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, thetransceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as UTRA and IEEE 802.11, forexample.

The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receiveuser input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/orthe display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) displayunit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 mayaccess information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory,such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132.The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storagedevice. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identitymodule (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card,and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may accessinformation from, and store data in, memory that is not physicallylocated on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (notshown).

The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and maybe configured to distribute and/or control the power to the othercomponents in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitabledevice for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 mayinclude one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd),nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion),etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which maybe configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude andlatitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In additionto, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU102 may receive location information over the air interface 115/116/117from a base station (e.g., base stations 114 a, 114 b) and/or determineits location based on the timing of the signals being received from twoor more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102may acquire location information by way of any suitablelocation-determination method while remaining consistent with anembodiment.

The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, whichmay include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provideadditional features, functionality and/or wired or wirelessconnectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include anaccelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera(for photographs or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, avibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, aBluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digitalmusic player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internetbrowser, and the like.

FIG. 24C is a system diagram of the RAN 103 and the core network 106according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 103 may employ aUTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 cover the air interface 115. The RAN 103 may also be in communicationwith the core network 106. As shown in FIG. 24C, the RAN 103 may includeNode-Bs 140 a, 140 b, 140 c, which may each include one or moretransceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c overthe air interface 115. The Node-Bs 140 a, 140 b, 140 c may each beassociated with a particular cell (not shown) within the RAN 103. TheRAN 103 may also include RNCs 142 a, 142 b. It will be appreciated thatthe RAN 103 may include any number of Node-Bs and RNCs while remainingconsistent with an embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 24C, the Node-Bs 140 a, 140 b may be in communicationwith the RNC 142 a. Additionally, the Node-B 140 c may be incommunication with the RNC 142 b. The Node-Bs 140 a, 140 b, 140 c maycommunicate with the respective RNCs 142 a, 142 b via an Iub interface.The RNCs 142 a, 142 b may be in communication with one another via anIur interface. Each of the RNCs 142 a, 142 b may be configured tocontrol the respective Node-Bs 140 a, 140 b, 140 c to which it isconnected. In addition, each of the RNCs 142 a, 142 b may be configuredto carry out or support other functionality, such as outer loop powercontrol, load control, admission control, packet scheduling, handovercontrol, macrodiversity, security functions, data encryption, and thelike.

The core network 106 shown in FIG. 24C may include a media gateway (MGW)144, a mobile switching center (MSC) 146, a serving GPRS support node(SGSN) 148, and/or a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) 150. While each ofthe foregoing elements are depicted as part of the core network 106, itwill be appreciated that any one of these elements may be owned and/oroperated by an entity other than the core network operator.

The RNC 142 a in the RAN 103 may be connected to the MSC 146 in the corenetwork 106 via an IuCS interface. The MSC 146 may be connected to theMGW 144. The MSC 146 and the MGW 144 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,102 c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, tofacilitate communications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c andland-line communications devices.

The RNC 142 a in the RAN 103 may also be connected to the SGSN 148 inthe core network 106 via an IuPS interface. The SGSN 148 may beconnected to the GGSN 150. The SGSN 148 and the GGSN 150 may provide theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c with access to packet-switched networks, suchas the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between and the WTRUs102 a, 102 b, 102 c and IP-enabled devices.

As noted above, the core network 106 may also be connected to thenetworks 112, which may include other wired or wireless networks thatare owned and/or operated by other service providers.

FIG. 24D is a system diagram of the RAN 104 and the core network 107according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ anE-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communicationwith the core network 107.

The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, 160 c, though it will beappreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs whileremaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment,the eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, 160 c may implement MIMO technology. Thus,the eNode-B 160 a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmitwireless signals to, and receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102 a.

Each of the eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, 160 c may be associated with aparticular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radioresource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of usersin the uplink and/or downlink, and the like. As shown in FIG. 24D, theeNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, 160 c may communicate with one another over an X2interface.

The core network 107 shown in FIG. 24D may include a mobility managementgateway (MME) 162, a serving gateway 164, and a packet data network(PDN) gateway 166. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted aspart of the core network 107, it will be appreciated that any one ofthese elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than thecore network operator.

The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160 a, 160 b, 160 cin the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. Forexample, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, bearer activation/deactivation, selecting aparticular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102 a,102 b, 102 c, and the like. The MME 162 may also provide a control planefunction for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown)that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM or WCDMA.

The serving gateway 164 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160 a,160 b, 160 c in the RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The serving gateway164 may generally route and forward user data packets to/from the WTRUs102 a, 102 b, 102 c. The serving gateway 164 may also perform otherfunctions, such as anchoring user planes during inter-eNode B handovers,triggering paging when downlink data is available for the WTRUs 102 a,102 b, 102 c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,102 c, and the like.

The serving gateway 164 may also be connected to the PDN gateway 166,which may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c with access topacket-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitatecommunications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c and IP-enableddevices.

The core network 107 may facilitate communications with other networks.For example, the core network 107 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,102 c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, tofacilitate communications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c andland-line communications devices. For example, the core network 107 mayinclude, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimediasubsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the corenetwork 107 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the core network 107 mayprovide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c with access to the networks 112,which may include other wired or wireless networks that are owned and/oroperated by other service providers.

FIG. 24E is a system diagram of the RAN 105 and the core network 109according to an embodiment. The RAN 105 may be an access service network(ASN) that employs IEEE 802.16 radio technology to communicate with theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c over the air interface 117. As will be furtherdiscussed below, the communication links between the differentfunctional entities of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, the RAN 105, andthe core network 109 may be defined as reference points.

As shown in FIG. 24E, the RAN 105 may include base stations 180 a, 180b, 180 c, and an ASN gateway 182, though it will be appreciated that theRAN 105 may include any number of base stations and ASN gateways whileremaining consistent with an embodiment. The base stations 180 a, 180 b,180 c may each be associated with a particular cell (not shown) in theRAN 105 and may each include one or more transceivers for communicatingwith the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c over the air interface 117. In oneembodiment, the base stations 180 a, 180 b, 180 c may implement MIMOtechnology. Thus, the base station 180 a, for example, may use multipleantennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receive wireless signalsfrom, the WTRU 102 a. The base stations 180 a, 180 b, 180 c may alsoprovide mobility management functions, such as handoff triggering,tunnel establishment, radio resource management, traffic classification,quality of service (QoS) policy enforcement, and the like. The ASNgateway 182 may serve as a traffic aggregation point and may beresponsible for paging, caching of subscriber profiles, routing to thecore network 109, and the like.

The air interface 117 between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c and the RAN105 may be defined as an R1 reference point that implements the IEEE802.16 specification. In addition, each of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 cmay establish a logical interface (not shown) with the core network 109.The logical interface between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c and the corenetwork 109 may be defined as an R2 reference point, which may be usedfor authentication, authorization, IP host configuration management,and/or mobility management.

The communication link between each of the base stations 180 a, 180 b,180 c may be defined as an R8 reference point that includes protocolsfor facilitating WTRU handovers and the transfer of data between basestations. The communication link between the base stations 180 a, 180 b,180 c and the ASN gateway 182 may be defined as an R6 reference point.The R6 reference point may include protocols for facilitating mobilitymanagement based on mobility events associated with each of the WTRUs102 a, 102 b, 102 c.

As shown in FIG. 24E, the RAN 105 may be connected to the core network109. The communication link between the RAN 105 and the core network 109may defined as an R3 reference point that includes protocols forfacilitating data transfer and mobility management capabilities, forexample. The core network 109 may include a mobile IP home agent(MIP-HA) 184, an authentication, authorization, accounting (AAA) server186, and a gateway 188. While each of the foregoing elements aredepicted as part of the core network 109, it will be appreciated thatany one of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entityother than the core network operator.

The MIP-HA may be responsible for IP address management, and may enablethe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c to roam between different ASNs and/ordifferent core networks. The MIP-HA 184 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102b, 102 c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 cand IP-enabled devices. The AAA server 186 may be responsible for userauthentication and for supporting user services. The gateway 188 mayfacilitate interworking with other networks. For example, the gateway188 may provide the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c with access tocircuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitatecommunications between the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c and land-linecommunications devices. In addition, the gateway 188 may provide theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c with access to the networks 112, which mayinclude other wired or wireless networks that are owned and/or operatedby other service providers.

Although not shown in FIG. 24E, it will be appreciated that the RAN 105may be connected to other ASNs and the core network 109 may be connectedto other core networks. The communication link between the RAN 105 theother ASNs may be defined as an R4 reference point, which may includeprotocols for coordinating the mobility of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 cbetween the RAN 105 and the other ASNs. The communication link betweenthe core network 109 and the other core networks may be defined as an R5reference, which may include protocols for facilitating interworkingbetween home core networks and visited core networks.

Although features and elements are described above in particularcombinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that eachfeature or element can be used alone or in any combination with theother features and elements. In addition, the methods described hereinmay be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmwareincorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computeror processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronicsignals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) andcomputer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storagemedia include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), arandom access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductormemory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removabledisks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks,and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association withsoftware may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for usein a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method for wireless communications, the methodcomprising: detecting a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in atleast a first beam of one or more beams; determining downlink controlinformation (DCI) from the detected PDCCH; determining whether spatialinformation for a downlink (DL) data channel is indicated in the DCI;determining a receive beam based on the spatial information for the DLdata channel on condition that the DCI indicates the spatial informationfor the DL data channel; determining that the receive beam is the firstbeam on condition that the DCI does not indicate the spatial informationfor the DL data channel; and receiving a data transmission over the DLdata channel on the determined receive beam.